The Nurse and the Pirate King
by Dem Pork Buns
Summary: A student nurse is thrown inside a sack and finds herself working as an unwilling one man medical team to a crew of pirates in the Harusame's 7th division. Rated T due to bloodshed and the occasional cussing. KamuixOC
1. Chapter 1

Ehehhee, I'm more of a reader than a writer, and I've decided, heck, why not post something to be read for a change. This is one of my first tries in fanfiction and I must say, I don't know if this is the right thing to do. English is not my first language, I just learned it a few years ago, so please don't be too harsh on the grammar as I have tried my best to fix my mistakes.

Enjoy!

The first time Chiaki met Kamui, she clubbed him in the head.

It wasn't done artfully as she imagined it to be. There was no epic fight with long hair and thick capes swishing in the rage of the cold winter wind. No umbrellas crashed together in the heat of battle and evidently, no bursts of blood from freshly opened wounds. It was done in a desperate act of self-defense, a rather unsuccessful act of self-defense that, whether happened or not, barely influenced the inevitable.

It began inside a dilapidated clinic that was found in the poorer parts of Edo. Clinics that are visited by Jouishishi, members of the Police force who are strangely broke due to overspending and a regular patient- a white natural perm guy who always pays late or sometimes, never. Other than the weekends, the clinic had no visitors during the earlier days of the week. The doctor that owns the place would leave Chiaki – a student nurse- to man the clinic while he went away visiting houses that needed medical attention. Chiaki thought of the doctor as a hero of some sorts and liked to work under him whenever she can.

Her liking for the job stemmed mostly from the extra income and the idea that she'll get a bit of experience in the medical field before actually working in a hospital and the 'hands on' activity she gets to experience when the doctor was around.

It was a perfectly bright, normal afternoon with our student nurse happily munching on her sandwich in the front desk of the clinic, which was a glorified term for a rickety table blocking the main path to the working area, when the front door was kicked off its hinges and flew at her direction, only missing her person by a few inches. The desk was totaled though, it was in pieces along with the door.

Chiaki's eyes widened with surprise before she found herself unable to move. _Well, shit_, she thought, she had exams a few hours from now and the rush of adrenaline knocked out a few terms from her gray matter.

Then from the debris and the cloud of dust on the doorway walked past a young man with brightly colored hair supporting another man- whom she presumed was his father- who had a stump for a left arm, a large bleeding gash on his right torso and a face that could have been substituted as a beat up soccer ball. Both of them were carrying heavy duty umbrellas that would most likely survive a day of continuous lighting storms.

Abuto looked up and did the friendliest grin he could have imagined. "Uhh, hello?" He called out.

Pushing fear away, Chiaki rushed to him and asked the younger man to set the man down. She tried to support Abuto and lead him inside the clinic where she could properly examine him when he shrugged her off and stood on his full height.

"I appreciate the fuss of getting taken care of but I'm alright. I just need you to clean this." Abuto gestured on his stump.

"What? Wait, no, you're not alright, you're bleeding to death!" Chiaki didn't like how she sounded a few octaves higher than usual. _Ahh, there goes another term._

"I'll be okay, just check my arm… or what's left of it. The wound started smelling a little off this morning, and I want the view of a professional."

"But-"

"Just check it already! We don't have all day" Abuto said impatiently.

"Touchy"

Chiaki frowned and quickly went in to a room and gathered supplies, not trying to be careless, she went through her drawers and pocketed a Taser the doctor gave her in cases of emergency. She thanked him under her breath as she remembered refusing the gift, she was glad he insisted.

She went to Abuto and gingerly removed the bandages around his arm and found a very poorly stitched swollen wound that probably looked worse than the day he got it. There was pus beginning to seep from the stiches and the room immediately smelled of infection.

Abuto immediately looked away in disgust and felt vomit creep into his mouth, even Kamui, who hasn't seen disgusting to that extent backed away in fear and apprehension.

"_Fuck!_ Not again!" Abuto groaned and cursed the heavens. _Another _infection! Maybe because he was getting old, he thought. The last time he caught an infection was from a gunshot wound that hit him because his shitty captain won't keep his mouth shut. If only Kamui understood the amount of women that refused to _visit_ his bedroom after they found out about his raging infection. Talk about repopulating the species…

She felt the room's temperature go down a few degrees and decidedly avoid staring at the shadow that masked the older man's face.

"Sooo, how did you get the wound?" She mentally slapped herself. She wanted to relieve the tense atmosphere but asked the wrong question.

"Abuto got it from stupidly interfering with my fight." The salmon haired man from earlier said. Chiaki turned her head and caught him munching on her delicious sandwich. _Asshole. _She gaped. People shouldn't destroy other people's doors, drop their dying _demanding_ fathers onto nurses and eat their food. She stretched her patience to an infinite scale and decided to ignore the man.

She fixed the sutures, and started clearing the open wound. It wasn't the first amputation she fixed, her year of service proved that drunken Amanto are more often than not a little too arrogant that they decidedly thought it was morally right for them to start chopping limbs after a little provocation. She's also seen the doctor hack appendages off to save men and she's proud to say that she knew what she was doing. She removed splinters and fabric from inside the wound and had what she thought was a pint of puss taken out from the festering injury while Kamui stared at her with creepy unblinking eyes.

She had decided then that maybe, just maybe that these guys are not as evil as she took them for earlier. Maybe the older man got his wounds from preventing a bar fight between his poor mannered son and some careless Amanto. The creepy younger one probably had a penchant for kicking doors and they just look all gangster-ish right?

_Wrong!_

"Abuto, get her to the ship as our new doctor." Kamui said after little thought of the matter.

It took several seconds for the non-orange haired occupants of the room to process what Kamui said. Abuto was very used to Kamui making idiotic decisions out of the blue, but it was his first to be openly ordered to kidnap. Abuto pondered a little then remembered that their ship's sole doctor had died in an accident. That accident being Ungyo and the others being ordered to shove the old man into space. The old man was forgetful and was forced to retire immediately. (Abuto suffered for weeks, the rate of balding heads and nasty halitosis increased tenfold, he was forced to deal with it)

Being the smart girl she was, Chiaki responded with a "Huh?"

She scanned both of their faces, hoping for a sign that what the younger man said was a bad joke.

She realized that Kamui was dead serious.

"Hey." She said. "I'm not even a doctor. I'm a nurse, barely a nurse, I'm still studying, see?" Chiaki managed to say, she gave Kamui her school's identification card just in case her school uniform wasn't proof enough.

Kamui took the ID and snapped it in half.

"Do you know how to treat baldness?" He asked with a smile.

Chiaki frowned, confused.

"I have a general idea." She replied, putting her right hand in her pocket where the Taser was.

"How about bad breath?" Abuto asked this time, a glint of hope in his eyes. Those weeks of endless complaints might actually come to an end.

"Drink water, brush your teeth, if it doesn't work the problem might not be in the mouth." She said, stepping back in fear.

Kamui shut his eyes and did a terrifyingly sweet smile. "Do you know how to do a root canal?" He asked.

"No."_ Do I look like some dentist to you?_

Kamui seemed to weight his options. "Good enough, Abuto."

Abuto grinned and raised his arm to grab her by the scalp.

Chiaki opted to tase him in the armpit.

Abuto fell to the floor, twitching and cursing. He was surprised, he didn't expect the little shrimp to be armed _dammit!_ He took a brave glance at his Captain who wasn't amused to have to do the job himself.

Chiaki gracefully slid past Kamui, a stream of dust rose from the friction of rubber and concrete. She put force on her left leg and jumped over the broken screen door and the remains of the broken desk and was moments away from freedom when with amazing speed, Kamui grabbed the back of her uniform's collar. He lifted her up and left her standing on her tip toes, strangling her.

"Let go of me!" She said clutching her collar to give herself air.

"You little _shit_." Abuto managed to croak out. He easily lifted himself up from the ground for someone who had one arm left and was electrocuted with a shit ton of volts. He looked pissed off. He approached her, rubbing his arm pit angrily. He headed in her direction with a means to an end.

Chiaki felt panic.

"_Dildo_" She said as loud as she could.

"What?"

Abuto paused and Kamui looked at her with confusion. It was enough distraction for the Yato to lower his arm a few inches.

Once her feet touched the ground, her right arm shot backwards at an almost impossible angle her muscles aching, screaming. She grabbed a baseball bat resting in a waiting chair that was left by a patient that morning. In a blur of movement, the baseball bat made hard contact with Kamui's forehead.

It's either Kamui made no effort to show that he was in pain or it was genuine that he never felt anything.

It was more of the latter.

He gave her a shit eating grin.

"Really? Nothing? No reaction? You mean, I did all that effort and it was still ineffective?" Chiaki frowned, panic drained from her system. Kamui let go of her, still smiling, but a dark purple aura emanated from his being. If she listened to her side, she would have heard Abuto trying and failing to give out an identifiable noise.

"Fucking bitch." Kamui smiled wider. Was he, was he just bashed in the head by a weird looking _human_ woman? He, Kamui, the ultimate totalitarian leader of over a hundred pirate Yato? The man who had battled armies without getting scratched, the man who can eat fifty servings of meal and still have room for dessert without any medical complications, allowed a piece of yesterday's garbage land a solid hit at him?

Judging by Abuto's wide eyes, the answer was a definite yes.

Kamui grabbed the front of her shirt and smashed her forehead into his, knocking her unconscious.

She definitely was up for the job.

_

Please review to help me improve! Thanks! :


	2. Chapter 2

Heya, guys, update! I had nothing much to do this week so I decided to put on chapter two. Thanks for those who reviewed, they were really helpful and they inspired me a whole lot. Here, have dem cookies *hands out chocolate chip*

Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama or earn any money from this:

STORY START:

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><p><em>"<em>_I still don't understand why you insist on studying nursing when you can become a surgeon, or a physician like me and your mom!" Chiaki's father hollered, face red from anger. He was ashamed of her daughter's choice of profession. His father and grandfather were renowned doctors, and here was his daughter content of becoming a nurse._

_'__It's your and mama's job that made us into this dysfunctional family!' Chiaki thought, but she knew better than to say it out loud. She r__emembered of begging for their attention when she was little. She used to wake up very early just to see them go to work and stay up late to meet them when they come back. When she couldn't anymore, she excelled in everything she can just to have their heads turn at her direction. It was tiring and it hurt._

_She knew she couldn't change anything by then, but she was determined to want something different for her children. She didn't want the loneliness that came from parents who are too busy earning money_

_"__I'm gonna be late." She said offhandedly. They have this conversation every time she leaves for school. Chiaki picked up her bag and turned to leave when her father yanked her by the arm, his nails digging into her skin._

_"__Look at me when I'm talking to you, Chiaki!"_

_She felt tears prick her eyes. "Let me go!" She said and tried to pry his fingers off._

_"__Pay attention when I'm speaking!"_

_"__Why? Do you listen when I talk to you?"_

_The scene was familiar, her father was far from abusive, but she knew then that she provoked him, fueled his anger too much, she knew it was her fault. They had been arguing for days, they were both acting like stubborn mules. But she was acting like a rudely, giving up on trying to convince him._

_She also knew that moments later her mother would come out from the living room and yell at her father. She would slap him and he would hit her, unintentionally Chiaki hoped. Then her father would look at her with contempt._

_She will run then, crying, catch a convenient bus and leave her hometown for Edo. She will go to the clinic and work with a heavy heart until the afternoon came._

_But this time, as her father held her in place, a familiar purple umbrella shot through air and perforated his neck from behind, the sharper, more dangerous end slid past his windpipe and stopped a mere inches from Chiaki's forehead. She watched in horror as warm blood dribbled from the open wound, her father opened his mouth to scream, but the umbrella tore to his side and he fell down in a twitching heap._

_The Seventh Division Captain, a title she will be most familiar soon, stood in front of her, smiling like the monster he was._

* * *

><p>Chiaki jolted awake, sweat soaked her clothes and her head howled in pain. <em>It was a dream. <em>She thought.

It was pitch black and bloody freezing too, her fingers were aching from the cold, and her face felt a little stiff.

She didn't move for a while, afraid perhaps that she was missing body parts. When courage came, she inspected herself in the dark and found out that she only lost her right shoe. Her toes there felt like ice. She was inside a smelly rough sack and, judging by the repetitive rubbing of the coarse fabric behind her, she knew she was carried in the back of the blonde haired man she treated earlier.

To make her time in the sack more unpleasant, there were bits of broken concrete and nails poking her legs. She immediately took a nail and decided to rip a hole into the sack, to create an opening to see where she was carted off to.

Due to her weight, and her position, the incision she made was good enough for the entire sack to rip in half; she fell unceremoniously to the ground.

Her two unwanted companions stopped walking.

"You're awake huh? Took you long enough! You're freaking heavy and the Captain won't share the burden too," Abuto complained and rubbed his back. Chiaki was unamused, the artificial light illuminating the room stung her eyes.

"Listen, I don't know who you people are and what you want from me, but I have to go home." _I have a hungry cat waiting at my dorm and I don't want to be kidnapped dammit!_ She said in a voice higher and much more desperate than what she was used to hearing.

"Well, if you want to go home, then you should have woken up earlier, unless humans can survive space you're not going home anytime soon." This time it was the shorter creepier one that spoke. "What?" Chiaki muttered, rubbing her eyes with the back of her arm. Kamui waved his hand to the right, gesturing that she should look through a window. Not wanting to walk closer to them, Chiaki craned her neck and from the window, saw Japan slowly moving away from her, or her moving away from Japan in the speed of a space ship. She watched in a blank expression as the islands she was used to call home shrunk into irregular dots then disappeared from her sight. Then slowly, earth transformed into a tinier and tinier ball until it got swallowed by the dim of space too.

Then everything went into place, she took a glance at the two men, umbrellas, and foreign clothing. She remembered their strange accents from the clinic, she ignored it, and it was a stupid thing to do. With rumors of a large crime syndicate coming for a visit floating around while she was still in Edo, she knew she was kidnapped by _pirates, _the infamous _Harusame pirates._

Memories of Pirates of the Caribbean flashed through her mind at the most inconvenient time of all and she said: _"parlay."_

Chiaki's eyes were at a blank, its once healthy chocolate color turned into an empty void of despair and nothingness.

Kamui cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Parlay….. I invoke the right of parlay…. According to the Code of the Brethern, set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you must take me to your Captain!" She quoted a scene from the movie in English. Her brain was going haywire with panic and stress. _This must be a dream. _She pinched herself in the arm _hard. _Nope. Nothing.

"Oi, this isn't the time to be quoting Pirates of th-"

"I am the Captain of this ship." Kamui piped in, in English as well, but heavily laced with Japanese tones.

"Don't follow her lead dammit! And that wasn't even right! You're supposed to say, 'I know the code' not 'I am the Captain of this ship!'" Abuto said hotly, but Kamui was having none of it.

"I know the code." Kamui corrected himself.

"If an adversary demands parlay you can do them no ha-"

"SHUT UP!" Abuto shrieked, feeling a headache rush in. This wasn't how hostages are supposed to act dammit! They were supposed to cry, hug his legs or lick his boots, beg for sweet sweet mercy and here she was quoting scenes of his favorite movie with his Captain. He felt the urge to re-watch every single installment of the movie. It will take him hours, and he has paperwork to take care of!

"Follow me." He gestured to the girl. He was going to show her the new clinic she was going to work in, which was, secretly, nothing more than a modified janitor's closet.

"Captain, you better start with the paperwork, I'll meet you in a few." He said to Kamui, trying to get his Captain to do something more useful, but Kamui being Kamui, he decided to do the exact opposite.

Abuto went into great detail about what she was going to do while Kamui insistently interrupted after every few sentences or so. He had a few medics to work with her, kidnapped too from what he implied, she was to actually receive wages, a percentage of what they earned in the ship, much to Chiaki's surprise it was twice the sum of what her parents earned. But everything went to a blur after that. She wished that she could have at least parted with them in good terms, her father was most likely still angry with her, until he receives the notification that she has been missing. Her mother would worry herself to death. Her cat would starve and the few of her friends would start placing missing posters all around Edo.

Abuto was talking about the lack of medical supplies when he noticed the silence.

He turned to see her bowed down, fat wet tears threatening to fall and he could see Kamui getting a bit ticked off because of it. But the man was still smiling like a maniac.

For the sake of his Super Captain Kamui, and not because he has a soft spot for crying women, he patted her shoulder and said: "You'll get used to it", which was a pile of shit, because whoever they kidnapped killed themselves after a week or so due to stress, overworking or some other reason that Abuto creates every time a member of Kamui's crew wasn't working as efficiently as he wanted.

"Here's the clinic." He said and slammed the door open as cooly as he could do it.

Three rotting corpses hung from the ceiling with nooses around their necks, crates away from their feet and a large I QUIT was written behind them in blood.

Abuto slammed the door shut.

Ahh, yes, there was another smaller clinic near Kamui's office; hopefully it would be devoid of dead medics.

The first few days was the worst, she had break downs, cried for hours and barely ate.

Four days later, her first patient arrived.

A man, who looked forty something, had ridiculous face piercings and an equally ridiculous pompadour, was hauled by two other men into her clinic. They, without knocking, went inside and dumped the unconscious man into her feet and without words scurried off like large black rats without a word. Chiaki was confused about their sudden reaction upon seeing her face. She helped the mumbling man out of the floor and put him to bed, unsure why they brought him there. He looked okay in her standards, until she checked his temperature. He had a mild fever.

She went into a small dirty bathroom to wet a towel- she tried cleaning it, but the suspicious stains were stubborn- and screamed. Her face was pale, like paper, strawberry blonde hair an afro, and her capillaries burst from crying, giving her the entire glowing red eye look. She was half tempted to go out of her clinic and start scaring Yato, pretend to be the ghost of the poor nurse who got kidnapped and killed herself in a very successful suicide attempt. But their umbrellas looked sharp and she had a patient to take care off.

She later found him to have severe food poisoning.

Chiaki interviewed the man when he woke up and when she asked if he ate something that might have caused his illness, he said:

"Well, when the Captain left, Taku and I went out of the ship, we wanted to do some shopping when we got lost in a nearby forest and ended up eating wild mushrooms."

"Wild mushrooms?" She repeated.

"Yes, like they always say, the edgier and the uglier it looks, the tastier it will be."

Chiaki pulled out his nose ring.

"Oops, my hand slipped."

She distracted herself from reality by nursing the Yato back to health, whom she found out was named Haji.

Other than how Haji got angry every time he remembered her pulling out his fashionable nose ring. They were in good terms. Before he left, healthy as a bull, he noted her still puffy eyes and the quiet sobbing noises he occasionally heard at night. He told her,

"Crying about your parents won't ease their worry about you. Become strong and survive, then maybe you'll see them again." He told her to become careful and gave her a small serrated pocket knife as a thank you. Then, just to be sure he said: "You also smell like a sheep's ass, go take a shower."

She ripped off an earring from his left ear and shut the sliding door of her clinic.

* * *

><p>Chiaki didn't like how most of the Yato were racist, sexist bastards who treat her like a three year old who got a hold of a toy stethoscope and played doctor. She didn't want to be treated very seriously, but she would like it better when if people acted like she was an actual nurse…. er, student nurse- everybody still calls her human, or pinky- and not an easy score who wanders around every now and then.<p>

Truly desperate ones knock at her clinic in the dead of the night, hoping for a miracle cure of baldness, halitosis or tooth aches, she would help them to the extent of her abilities but she couldn't do much due to lack of supplies. After a month of avoiding the Captain and the Vice Captain, and learning that they had docked into Mesa Planet, Chiaki knew that she needed to talk to salmon hair.

Chiaki took a large herbal tome written in Yato, a Yato to English dictionary and English to Japanese dictionary and started heading to the direction of Kamui's office, arms straining from the weight of the collected books. Chiaki wasn't weak like, "I will absolutely loose if I fight one on one with a Yato clan member, but if I have my friends behind me and I have to protect them, I might be able to block a few of their blows." Chiaki was weak like, "If a Yato clan member hits me with an umbrella, I will try to block it but I will still fly in an amazing 20 feet trajectory before falling down head first, dead, with my organs in a jumble. So I better keep all my snarky comments at bay, and stop pulling piercings from people's faces"

The student nurse stood at Kamui's office, legs shaking from fear.

"I'll do it next time." She said with resolute devotion, turned around and slammed into the Captain.

"What are you doing?" Kamui asked with piqued curiosity. He was going to escape Abuto's slave driving in paperwork by hiding in the last possible place Abuto would think Kamui would hide, inside his own office.

"I… uh.." _Now is not the time to back down! Courage Chiaki, COURAGE!_ "I wanted to talk to you concerning the lack of medical supplies in the clinic." She said cooly.

Kamui looked at her, trying to recall who she was. She had brown eyes and dull pink hair…. _Ah! The human from the time in Edo! Her name…. her name is Elizabeth Duck! _He remembered the little quotes from Pirates of the Caribbean they shared. Ha! Kamui secretly praised himself for having good memory.

"Come in." Kamui pushed the heavy doors open and led her inside. He gestured for her to sit on a thin rickety wooden stool while he went behind his sleek black manager's table that was probably worth an entire decade of her parent's salary. It was most intimidating.

Chiaki cleared her throat for a moment. Trying to decide how she would open conversation with the man. She wanted to ask him if she could get out of the ship and get a restock medical supplies, and woman stuff too if she could be persuasive enough, but she also recently found a way to stop ageing Yato waking her up in the middle of the night begging to cure their bald spots.

Taking all the courage she could muster she said,

"Captain, I was reading through the medical books when I found this Herbal." She lifted the book to show the cover.

"Conveniently enough, there was a section here that shows a kind of plant that can cure baldness permanently, found in Mesa Planet."

"Cure baldness… forever?" Kamui felt excitement run through his veins… _FINALLY_ he thought. You what they say, the stronger the Yato, the more bald spots he'll get when he's older. And Kamui, being the son of the great Umibozu, was starting to see the symptoms of baldness slowly appearing like the pimples he got when he was experiencing the horrors of adolescence.

"Yes." She opened a page of the book and pointed out a few lines of sentences he couldn't read.

"And the other books with you?"

"Dictionaries, to translate Yato into Japanese." She said calmly, this time not as nervous as she first came in.

Kamui squinted, which wasn't evident to Chiaki since his eyes were all squinty from the beginning, but they squinted even more.

"You're of more use to me than I imagined." Kamui said. "And here I was about to drag you tomorrow as a sacrificial goat for the promise of peace and hospitality to the lizard people of Mesa. I normally don't give shit about sacrificial bullshit of tribes, but the last time we didn't offer women, they snuck through our cooling system and our ship crashed half way through the universe." He prattled on.

Chiaki gaped_…. Sacrificial goat_….. She was going to be sacrifice? She wasn't sure how she would feel about that, she should be angry, yes, angry, but there is logic in the back of her mind that if she didn't act like she's all chill with it and start being snarky to the Captain. She _will_ become dead in seconds.

"Ahahahhaa… I'm glad I'm not going to be sacrifice too…" She felt like crying.

"Eh?" Abuto appeared from behind her. "You're still alive?" He was referring to Chiaki. Abuto wasn't really looking for his Captain yet, he went to Kamui's office to _steal_, ahem, borrow umbrella wax, since his own run out.

"Still alive?" She repeated, turning to his direction with her limbs iced with suppressed emotion.

"Normally, people we kidnap only live for a week, it's a miracle you're not dead yet, or missing limbs."

_"__SO THAT YOU'LL GET USED TO IT SPEECH WAS BULLSHIT AFTER ALL?" _Chiaki said, she felt migraine seep in.

"Ahahahaha…." Abuto tried to laugh away the awkwardness that came after that, but it was futile.

"Wait, you can read?" Abuto pointed out at the stack of books on Chiaki's lap that was cutting off her blood system. In the corner of his eye, he could see Kamui make suspicious phone calls to whom it seems to be the king of the lizard people.

Chiaki raised an eyebrow. Will saying yes lead her to become a sacrificial element for the book people at planet library? She didn't know how to answer his question, so she shoved the books off her lap and started running to the door. She accidentally screamed at Abuto earlier and she didn't want to be whacked dead with a non-waxed umbrella.

"Wait!" She heard Kamui say from behind her. She looked back and realized that Kamui was referring to Abuto who was suspiciously carrying a sack labelled, to "King of the Book people" and was in the prime position to knock her out.

Chiaki shot him a glare, Abuto ignored it and turned to his Captain.

"What is it Captain? Can't you see I'm trying to fix our broken up ties with the Book people since you burnt their main library down?!" Abuto complained, scratching his head sheepishly with his umbrella.

"I accidentally pissed off the Lizard people and the King has the elite members of his army coming to attack us. _tee-hee_"

"_TEE HEE_ MY ASS! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES?"

Chiaki sweat dropped.

_"__Fuck the medical supplies; I'm getting out of here" _She thought, leaving when a metal panel of the ceiling shook and crashed down beside her, there was now a large whole connecting to upper floors, two angry black cloaked Yato stood on the fallen debris, stepping on an unconscious eight feet blue armored lizard who had knives strapped on his belt.

"CAPTAIN WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" The bigger of the Yato yelled at his superior, jumped up, grabbed a gigantic live wire then hoisted himself to the upper floor, to battle a wave of the incoming lizard army. The second one rammed his umbrella into the lizard's gigantic skull to end the twitching reptile.

"HOW FUCKING FAST ARE THESE LIZARD PEOPLE ANYWAYS!?" Abuto howled. Face red with anger.

Then what sounded like thick toe nails and a stampede of savage wolves thundered down the hallway nearing the office. Chiaki screamed and took a hold on Kamui's cloak, immediately, Kamui jumped up the earlier made opening up the ceiling to avoid the mass of lizard and knives. The Captain was _good_ at fighting, but he disliked the prospect of being crushed before crushing. He also unwillingly rescued Chiaki from getting killed by the mass of the angry alien lizard elite force. The student nurse realized that she was still hugging Kamui's cloak and immediately let go, successfully avoiding his kick to get her person off him.

She was the luckiest lucky being in the ship, she thought.

"Get in my way again, and I'll kill you." Kamui said to her, eyes blue and blood thirsty, like a monster in the verge of snapping.

Then he jumped back into the pit, head first, spinning down with his umbrella as weapon.

Chiaki froze in the upper level; she could feel the fear inching closer to the tier of "total brown moment in pants."

"Crap, the Captain is getting in touch with his bad habits again." Abuto said to no one in particular, but he said it near Chiaki so he would sound all cool and wisdomy from her part. He was itching to jump down and join the bloodshed, but he knew that he will get caught into Kamui's umbrella.

"He's going to get killed.." Chiaki muttered.

"Heh, you obviously haven't seen a Yato fight before. The Captain will be bored soon, these sons of bitches are tough, but once he finds out they cut like paper in the bellies, this will be done in no time." Abuto looked down the hole. "That King is a real idiot."

Chiaki felt strangely safer being in Abuto's presence, the hay haired uncle won't stop running his mouth but his assurance made her feel secure. She gripped the knife given to her by Taku and felt her stomach churn at the sound of gun shots and the familiar squelch of blood.

Then Abuto jumped down the hole.

"WAIT WHERE ARE YOU GOING!... Don't go." Chiaki squeaked.

Then from her peripheral, a general lizard, she thought, being the biggest one she's seen crept into her vision, hissing angrily. He held a bloodied great sword in his right hand and he ran to her direction.

_Well, fuck._

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><p>I don't think I can stomach making a love story with people falling in love at the second chapter. It will probably take me a little while to get the two together. I initially wanted a strong badass OC but I decided that maybe it is possible to put a mentally strong one? (she will be) than a physical strong one with a hot body.<p>

THANKS FOR READING! 3


	3. Chapter 3

I want to say thank you for those who reviewed and for those who actually had the patience to read my work. I wasn't expecting much from my first fan fanfiction, but I'm glad I posted it,

Special thanks to: ahsoei (I totally forgot to put deets on her features. I will try to insert it somewhere… Thanks tho! :D)

YOU PEOPLE ARE AWESOME!

I do not own Gintama

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><p>It went faster than she had expected. One moment, she was scrambling away from the hissing, snarling monster and then she felt it, it must have felt the same as a car accident, the giant Lizard swiped his arm and made contact just below where her arm connected with her shoulder. Chiaki screamed painfully, her left arm made a fleshy sounding pop and blood oozed out from a scratch wound. She dropped her knife and bent down to pick it up. The Amanto was faster, he swiped again. This time, Chiaki saw it and moved away. His nails caught her hair, but they were sharp enough to cut it into pieces.<p>

The general took his sword and aimed for her vitals.

Chiaki panicked when she saw the giant sword and jumped at the carter connecting downstairs. The fall wasn't a good one, it knocked her breath out and she fell in a painful heap. She rolled to her right away from the mound of debris she fell into, away from the reaching distance of the killing machine. The crater, it turned out was too small for the Lizard man to enter. She let out a breath of shaky relief and tried to stand up, her legs seemed fine enough, only a little bruised. Her left arm worried her, but a quick inspection rendered the wound not fatal.

"Don't think you'll be escaping any soon!" The lizard spoke, its voice snakelike, deep, it made Chiaki shiver. She gave him a look of defiance, too scared to speak and scampered off like a bat out of hell away from the office.

She didn't have a plan, her mind was whirling, too panicked to think coherently. She followed the trail of bloodshed. She knew there wasn't anywhere safe to hide in that floor, her only hope was to lead the General to the Captain so they could kill him before he could kill her.

The lizard let out an angry howl, weak prey are supposed to not bother him, but he couldn't let this one escape so easily.

He dug his sword to the metal flooring and used it as a lever to break the floor.

* * *

><p>"Sooooo…. You know, they say if you show your asshole to moonlight. Your hemorrhoids will be cured." Abuto swiped the 383th lizard unconscious with his umbrella. His face impassive, foot work walking. He felt the battle he was fighting was like him playing tennis with a bunch of noobs. There wasn't anything interesting in that fight. Plus, he wanted to make conversation.<p>

Kamui was crouched on the floor, shooting the 594th lizard that went near him. Maaaan he was bored. If there was one thing the Lizard people was good at, it was reproducing. But mass production ruins quality. The King's attack didn't have a solid plan, maybe, Kamui thought, if he would have not provoked the King too much, his royal highness would have thought of a better plan, rather than mindless attacking.

Kamui yawned.

"You have hemorrhoids? Abuto?" He looked at Abuto with a little interest. Any blackmail information was very welcome.

"No, but I want to visit moonlight planet next, I heard they have the strongest moonlight in the universe." Abuto mused, feeling his hemorrhoids shift.

"Just admit it" Kamui shot the last of the lizards.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY GETOUTOFTHEWAY MOVEITYOUFUCKERS!"

From a distance, Kamui could make out Chiaki, her long pink hair now jagged in the edges, clothes in tatters. She was running towards their direction furiously, grasping her bleeding left arm.

Then Kamui felt it, the floor shook in intervals, seconds later, he saw a hideous lizard general that was at least five times bigger than the ones they fought, eyes white with fury and with scales as armor, only meters away from the human girl right now.

"MOOOVEEE" Chiaki said, a little bit ticked off by their lack of response. As if running on top of corpses wasn't hard enough, those two idiots just had to block the hallway.

_DO SOMETHING DAMMIT! _She thought, jumping over a still twitching corpse of a larger lizard when she stepped on a pool of blood, slid and face planted on Kamui's hard chest. Somehow, she thought, that running straight into a brick wall will hurt less than running into a Yato's chest of steel.

As if her worth in Kamui's ship couldn't be lessened any further,

Kamui did a parkour like jump and kicked the giant in the chest. The lizard toppled back giving Kamui the advantage of snapping its head off in an instant. Then he did a flip and landed gracefully between Abuto and Chiaki, blood artfully sprayed into his face, as if it was flicked with reason by some psycho artist.

"And I thought pissing off that stupid King was worth something… I guess I was wrong." Kamui said, throwing the Lizard's separated head behind him, as if murdering half a hundred lizards was an everyday feat. The lizard head flopped on the floor and rolled away, the body twitched a few times then fell with a heavy thump.

Chiaki resisted the urge to go down on her knees and start naming Kamui as her new God and only King-er, _Captain._ Whatever shit that was, it was amazing, but the nurse will never forget their attempts of trying to sacrifice her on some remote dirt planet at every chance they got. She struggled to put an unimpressed face. These people are much, much more dangerous than any Lizard General or maybe anything she will ever meet.

_Heh, now that she knows my true strength, this human loser will definitely start cowering in fear_. This was a super effective method of putting cannon fodder in their proper places. Kamui smiled to himself, waiting… _waiting._

He turned his head to the side to see Chiaki try to raise her bleeding left arm angle by angle, as if slowly trying to recite something in class. Her face away from his line of vision. Abuto on the other side wasn't even doing the, _"heh, Captain, you and your bad habits, you~"_ bullshit he never fails to repeat every time Kamui goes on a parkour, bone smashing, face breaking, bullet shooting, hefty explosion filled murder spree. Abuto was on his Universal Phone, angrily contacting the King of the Lizard people, he was threatening the reptile to pay for the ship's damages.

He turned to Chiaki again.

"What are you doing?" He asked, trying to understand the strangeness of her left arm exercises.

Chiaki faced the man, her wide chocolate brown eyes showing a lot of pain, her cheeks pink, puffed with air.

"My, arm… My arm, I'm trying to get the bone go back into place, it's dislocated." She said between breaths. She raised her arm higher this time, feeling her upper arm bone slowly inch its way back.

"Ah." Kamui said.

Then he caught her left elbow and forcefully slammed the bone back into its socket.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?" She darted away from him, pointing an accusing finger at his direction. That damn well _hurt._

"You were taking too long." He said nonchalantly.

"I was almost to it!." She huffed, face red from anger. She shot him a look, made an indefinable noise then approached Abuto. She shooed him away from his spot, which he reluctantly agreed and held on with two hands the edge of a metal plated wall. She took a breath then pulled it open, revealing a dimly lighted space with a bed on the far corner, it was the glorified storage closet, her clinic. Kamui watched in interest as she pulled out a heavy looking kit and treated her arm wound.

She approached him a few minutes after.

"Captain, you have wounds?"

"No."

She looked back at Abuto who was now screaming in a high pitched angry adult male voice in the phone. Seeing that he was well enough to be frolicking atop corpses while discussing about the taxes he needed to collect, she looked away from him.

She cleared her throat and stared at Kamui dead in the eye.

"Captain, I have a request." She said in the most confident voice she could ever try make. At a normal-er situation, she would have hopped inside the clinic and never leave, forever. But she saw the blood on that Lizard guy's long sword, it was unlikely that he would harm his own soldiers, there were either dead or injured pirates on the upper level and it was her job to help them.

Kamui made a creepier smile.

She took it increased level of creepiness as her cue to continue.

"Can you help me up the opening in your office's ceiling. There is a chance that you may have injured comrades, upstairs."

Kamui raised an eyebrow.

"No." He said.

"Very well. I knew it would come to this." Chiaki muttered darkly. Abuto looked to their direction and Kamui readied himself for upcoming weak attacks.

_I know it's too early to use this, but…_ The nurse remembered the amount of blood dripping from the Lizard's sword. Someone might be in peril and she would be late if she took the stairs. Why is this ship so damn big…

"Here" Chiaki put her free arm into her pocket and tada, she held out a dirty looking keychain, which suspiciously looked like sausage and manberries in shiny buff metal.

Kamui's eyes widened.

Chiaki smirked, a dark shadow was cast into her eyes, making her look intimidating for a pink haired short teenager. "I see you know what this is." She said.

"Only a fool would not know what that is, it's the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon limited edition keychain, only a hundred was made in all Universe. How did a shrimp like you get ahold of that." Kamui said darkly, he killed for less.

"Pure luck." Chiaki replied, as if it explained everything. The revolting thing was actually proudly given to her by her mother when she passed her college entrance exam. It was something she had with her person, along with several other trinkets, when she was dragged to Kamui's ship.

"Bring me up and this will be yours."

There was a few seconds of silence before Kamui took her by the collar of her shirt and carried her on shoulder transport as if she was a sack of galactic potatoes then ran to his office with her screeching and flailing, saying something in the lines of: _"I CAN WALK_!" and "_ STOP PLEASE I HAVE BRUISED RIBS!"_

"Yes, and I want 70 000 000 space dollars for the damage, alri- Captain?" Abuto looked around. _Shit_, he was so engrossed at swindling the king, he didn't notice the Captain run off, and where was the nurse too? He had a bite wound in his ass, and it was starting to feel a little sketchy.

* * *

><p>Chiaki found out that not all Yato were friggin killer skilled as the Captain and the Vice Captain. All members of the 7th division were Yato, all Yato are strong, but not all practiced maiming and killing on a daily basis. There were those who preferred less violent options, such as piloting ships or figuring out what all the blinking lights and the beeping sounds meant.<p>

Now, there were three Head Pilots on the ship, they switched control every 12 hours, one of them, along with a few other crew laid on the steel cold floor, some bleeding, some dead.

It didn't take Chiaki more than a few minutes to locate the bloodshed. The first man she saw, green haired, in white uniform had his head meters away from the body. She resisted the urge to linger and rushed forward.

_Crackk_

"Eh?" Chiaki turned around and pursed her lips to the sight. Kamui was standing above the poor corpse; its ribs were breaking at the weight of the smiling Captain. She noted that the vulgar keychain was attached to his umbrella handle. "What are you doing here?" She asked suspiciously, she needed to help people dammit! She wouldn't be that efficient with a dangerous kidnapper looming over her. _'and don't you have anything more important to do? Like, rebraiding your hair, stealing from the blind or swindling your subordinates?'_

"This is my ship, I go wherever I want." He replied, walking forward and crushing the arm of the corpse.

Chiaki's face blanched.

She took a step backward.

He took a step forward.

When it was evident that he was following her, she was tempted to do freaking parkour and try to lose him like what they do in the movies, but she heard groans in the next corner and decided, _fuck it._

She saw four men, three was moving, and the other one on the far back didn't seem to be conscious. She kneeled to the first Yato who was heavily bleeding from a leg wound. She quickly elevated the wound and took sterile bandages from her kit. She was about to put pressure on the wound when she heard another Yato groan in pain. There were others who needed her help and she couldn't be in two places at once.

"Captain?" She tested, looking up to him.

"What?"

"Can you help out a comrade here?" _PLEASESAYYESPLEASESAYYES_ It was a miracle that Kamui was in a horribly good mood then, because he agreed and even Abuto couldn't get him to help with anything. If Abuto was there, he would have resisted the urge to bow down and start naming Chiaki as his new Queen and God.

"Great, put pressure in his wound until I tell you to stop, thank you." She said with genuine relief as she handed him the bandages. She checked her watch to gauge fifteen minutes when she saw it was broken and missing its second and hour hand. _Awesome_, she thought depressingly, her only way of telling time in that dark leaky ship was now gone. She went and started treating another crew who had much serious injuries than the earlier man.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in another part of the ship:<p>

"Captain? Captain? Where are you?" Abuto lifted a mutilated lizard carcass with his equally bloody umbrella and checked under it.

"SHITTY CAPTAIN?" He tried, silence echoed like a heavy fog.

"DAMN SHITTY CAPTAIN THAT ALWAYS GETS US LOW ON FOOD SUPPLIES!?" He tried again, silence again.

"OI I HAVE HEMMORHOIDS!" Silence.

Abuto felt a vein pop.

"ASSHOLE CAPTAIN COME OUT NOWWW! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF HAVING TO TAKE CARE OF YOU ALL THE TIME! YOU MAKE BAD DECISIONS THAT I ALWAYS HAVE TO DEAL WITH! BUT YOU KNOW WHY I STILL STAY RIGHT BESIDE YOU? IT'S BECAUSE DEEP DOWN INSIDE, I THINK OF YOU AS MY SO-"

Whack

"SON OF A BITCH!" Abuto hollered at the person who slammed a clip board up his spine. He made his best gangsta face and turned to the rude man.

The rude man, was a woman, an old woman with cat features, a cat tail, cat hair for head hair, whiskers and the occasional hairball. The said woman was angry; her tail was stick straight, fangs bared and fur ruffled.

Abuto looked below him and sheepishly laughed. "Oh, hi, health inspector." _Damn I totally forgot about the monthly health check. _Abuto swallowed as he took notice of her clip board filled with giant red x's and angry circle marks. The hallways were filled with lizard remains, dried blood and up the fancy chandeliers, guts hanging like sausages.

He facepalmed.

_Why do I always get the shit end of things?_

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><p>Shinji woke up with an angel holding his life for him. A bloody male angel. A bloody male angel with salmon colored hair, striking blue eyes and a sinister smile who was crushing the bones on his leg. "Captain…wait, CAPTAIN." He said hoarsely. He was bleeding earlier, he knew putting pressure on the wound will stop the blood flow, but Kamui was putting too much damn pressure and he was sure his leg was going to break if it continued on. "CAPTAIN!" He tried again, this time truly desperate.<p>

"Ah, you're finally awake." Kamui said.

"You're putting too much pressure on my leg, Captain! It hurts!" He could feel his eyes dangerously close to pop out of their sockets.

"Sorry, doctor's orders." Kamui smiled wider, putting more pressure on the wound. He remembered asking Chiaki how much pressure to put, she was distracted, sewing a man's chest back, and she muttered something of, 'as hard as you can captain.'

Kamui watched as his subordinate piss himself in pain.

"I-I have an Xbox 360." His subordinate said.

"An Xbox 360?" Kamui repeated with subtle interest.

"I'll give it to you, sir, if you would stop breaking my leg." Kamui released some of the pressure and said; "Doc, the bleeding has stopped."

Chiaki turned to him, about to correct the Captain to call her nurse when she saw that the man wasn't bleeding anymore and was strangely looking all relieved.

"Nice work." She said with relief, smiling brightly at him.

Kamui had to shield his eyes from the radiant purity of her smile.

"Is there any more I can help?" Kamui asked, the prospect of stealing precious items from his own crew with blackmail lightened up his mood.

Chiaki saw the man below her shake his head in refusal, he was making panicked noises. She was going to consider saying 'no'… but Kamui was acting so nice… And there might be more injured people out there.

"Sure." She said.

She wasn't too sure, but she saw the man below her start crying.

It was going to be a longer day than usual.

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><p>Ahh… I'm so tired… But I just had to finish this chapter before I sleep. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note:

I do not own anything and, THANK YOU PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED AND THOSE WHO READ THESE! I thought that I'll get maybe maximum four reviews for the entire thing but I'm surprised that I got more. I don't know what to say, I crie….

Anyhow, thank you again, and I will try my best to not disappoint. This is not my best chapter though.

I do not own Gintama.

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><p>The nurse avoided Kamui and Abuto for about half a week before all became complicated. After the entire lizard attack, she made a sling for her dislocated arm and focused on how to not get abducted and be carted off as sacrifice.<p>

She welcomed those who was injured to her clinic and were dismayed when she found out that she was the only one who'll suffer the whole recovery time. The Yato Clan healed crazy fast, unless there were complications like infections or a gigantic splinter, all was well.

By the fourth morning, Chiaki was scraping what was left of the medical supplies she had in her clinic when someone knocked the door. Followed by a:

"Hey, Nurse, get out of there."

Chiaki immediately pulled out the blade from her medical box and rolled under the small bed located a bit to the left of the door. She tried to position herself in a way that her left arm wouldn't get uncomfortable. It was Abuto, and she was damn well sure the man was outside with a sack, ready to kidnap her _again_ and use her as peace treaty item.

Abuto, on the other side of the door was trying hard to remember her name. He remembered asking it once, it started with a C…._Christopher, Charlie? No.. she's Japanese.. Uhh Choji? No that's from Naruto… Uhhhh, it rhymes with Moriarty or something…. Never mind…_

"Pink hair! I know you're in there! I can smell your fear!" Abuto hit the iron door harder. He was starting to get ticked off by the lack of response. He started kicking the door, his boot leaving black marks on iron.

Chiaki resisted the urge to say, "It's not pink, it's strawberry blonde." She scooted further from sight and held her knife securely.

"BITCH GET OUT OF YOUR HOVEL THIS INSTANT"

_Hovel? This conceited bastard._

"It's not a hovel! It's a glorified janitor's closet!" She corrected him, too pissed to control herself.

"HA! So you're in there! Open the door!" He kicked the door harder.

Several crewmen passed by the situation and whispered amongst themselves.

Abuto let out an embarrassed sigh and rammed his remaining arm through the door. His fingers drilled in the metal due to the strong impact. He clenched his fist and pulled, the door creaked in pressure then got separated from its hinges.

Chiaki cursed when light flooded the room. From her vision, under the bed, she saw Abuto walk in. Then he stopped, most likely confused he couldn't see her. She readied herself to run out of the door.

_One_. She thought, _Two, Thr-_

A muscular arm shot out from the end side of the bed. Strong fingers wrapped around Chiaki's ankles, Abuto pulled her roughly out from under. Chiaki started screaming, she kicked him in the chest, but Abuto only grinned horribly. She aimed better and kicked his face. Abuto let out an unamused growl, he grabbed her by the front side of her shirt and hauled her up when Chiaki took a deep breath in, gripped his scarf and hit his forehead with hers.

Abuto's forehead must be made of bricks with skin slapped on top for aesthetic purposes, because Chiaki fell down unconscious after that.

* * *

><p>"Ne, Abuto, it's been an hour now, she's still unconscious, I told you not to kill her." Chiaki felt her injured shoulder get poked by the sharp end of an umbrella.<p>

"I told you already, Captain, she did this to herself." She heard Abuto's irritated whiny voice.

She felt the end of the umbrella travel up, until it was contented on poking her cheek.

"Well, I guess if she doesn't wake up in three seconds, we'll kill he-"

"I'M AWAKE!" Chiaki jolted up from a chair and sat with her back straight, she was in Kamui's office, sitting on an office chair with a large desk. Her hair was in a mess, clothes ruffled and a purple bruise was starting to color at her forehead. The said bruise was hurting and burning like someone was hammering a nail into her skull. "What can I do for you?" She said, shivering a little. The Captain's office was now repaired, looking as good as when she entered it the first time, it was also, again, freezing. She didn't fancy visiting the man, more of visiting the man wearing clothing inappropriate for subzero temperatures.

"Abuto said you can read right?" Kamui aimed the end of his umbrella to her face.

"Uhh, yes, I guess so." She said, trying to subtly shift away from the umbrella's range.

"Great, now do this." In a matter of a split second, an inhumane stack of disheveled papers were stacked in front of Chiaki. Followed by three more, the nurse was sure that if it was silent enough, she would have been able to hear the table creak in the sheer weight of the paper.

"Do this? What?" She said confusedly.

"Do the paperwork idiot." Abuto offhandedly scattered pens and ink bottles on her desk. "You do the taxes, segregate the papers, do the entire accounting thing, while we fuck around the place. Understand?" Abuto sometimes could be a slave driver if he wanted to.

"What if I sabotage your taxes? What if I make shit decisions that will ruin the entire 7th divisions?" Chiaki asked, she didn't quite understand their bizarre actions.

"We know you don't have enough guts to do that." Kamui said.

Chiaki took the first sheet of paper from the pile nearest to her, the sheet look serious, several bold letters announced its contents, and the stamp on the left hand corner indicated it was not from a friendly organization. She put the paper back to its place and felt a headache come in.

"I can't do this, I'm a _nurse_, I already accepted to do what it is to do under the profession in which you kidnapped me. This is serious stuff and I do not feel that I am entirely capable of accomplishing it." She said. There was no good reason for them to force her into doing their work, she was not interested and she highly doubted she would be skilled enough in the art of doing paperwork. _I'll probably fuck up. _Chiaki stood up.

"Then, do it or die." Kamui smiled. He pointed his umbrella to her.

"I don't th-"

A bullet whizzed through the side of her skull, barely missing her by inches.

"Of course I'll do it Captain. Just to prove my loyalty to you, I'll finish half of these in next few hours. Even though I know that both of you are completely literate and intelligent enough to do it. I completely offer my services." She sweat dropped and hurriedly took the nearest folder and started flipping through the pages. It was easy to forget that her Captain was a super gangster who's probably killed up to half the population of Japan, him being innocent looking and all that.

When she realized that the two Yato was still standing there, firm in their pose and lips tight. She swallowed when she knew her mistake.

"You're literate right?" She gaped, blinking at the two. Kamui's expression was unreadable, while Abuto was giving her a sheepish smile.

"Well, when it was my time, learning how to read wasn't important, we primarily focused on getting stronger." Abuto said.

_A lot of good that must have given you. _Chiaki thought bitterly, she didn't hate the man's guts, but she was angry at him, and his Captain, for everything mostly. But now she felt a bit of pity towards them. A bit.

"I guess it was the same for you." She said to Kamui who was looking dead serious.

"Nah, Captain knows the basics, he's just a lazy bastard." Abuto grinned.

Chiaki suppressed the feeling of stabbing the man with a fountain pen. She just stabbed the table instead.

"Basics?" She inquired, reading the first paragraph of the file she held.

"Well, the Captain can read a little, but his handwriting looks like shi-"

Before Abuto could say shit, Kamui angled his body, twisted from the back, and slammed his foot on Abuto's torso. Abuto blocked the kick with his umbrella and somersaulted a distance away from his Captain. Chiaki stood up again from her seat, she intended to say 'stop', but the speed of Kamui's attack terrified her.

Chiaki felt liquid run through her skirt, down her legs. She imagined the worst that she had pissed herself, but when she looked down, she found out that the bottle of ink from her table toppled over and spread a dark stain below her crotch to down her legs.

_There goes my only skirt, well I guess I have to wear those ugly patient pants back at the clinic._

"Don't worry Captain-sama, I won't tell anyone, I swear on my life_." Now to go away and get me started please._

Abuto announced to everyone that he had some important 'Vice Captain' stuff to do and disappeared. Kamui still remained in the office, but his unapproachable demeanor made him seem miles away.

Chiaki sighed, she always thought Abuto was one who did all the paperwork while the Captain slacked off, it turned out that the both of them lazed around and some poor bastard did all the work. She wondered about the identity of the poor man who got abused by the both of them.

*Somewhere in a different universe:

"ACHOOO" Dead Ungyou sneezed. Strange, he thought. He took his flu shots a month ago.

"Ey, someone must be thinking of you." Dead Housen said sipping his sake.

"Or maybe it's the dust around here." Dead Ungyou shook his head disapprovingly. He looked out of his hut and saw Dead Okita Mitsuba sweeping her lawn clean.

"Oi! Lady! Why not help us out here!" He called out.

Dead Okita Mitsuba threw the pointed end of her broom at his dead forehead, knocking him out.

Somewhere in the same universe:

"And, we would like to thank you for…" Chiaki squinted. She had written the same sentence, _thrice_ in a paragraph. "Dammit" She muttered, rubbing her tired eyes. She glanced at the clock behind her and took note that she had been sitting there since four in the afternoon until 11 in the evening. She only took toilet breaks, drank water and ate what was left of the stale bread she begged to have from the kitchens. All under the calculating gaze, Kamui wasn't looking but she would be an idiot not to know, of the Captain. She took stretches at about 8 in the evening when the Captain left the office, he hasn't come back after that, and she felt like a fool.

Chiaki sighted, this wasn't working, and the quality of her work diminished as the hours grew longer. The stack of papers didn't even seem to be lessening as fast as she wanted it to be.

The nurse took a wobbly step up, tested her balance, closed the lights of the office and locked its doors. She teetered to her office, and had a frustrating time trying to secure the broken door of her office. _Damn Abuto for destroying my only means of privacy on this ship. _Chiaki kicked the door in the end, wobbled to her bed, kicked her shoes off and didn't remember falling asleep.

3am:

"Uhh, excuse me." Someone poked Chiaki's cheek. Lately, Yato kept on doing that.

Chiaki groaned and rolled to her side, away from the intruder. The man knitted his eyebrows and saw her disheveled state, her shoes weren't even halfway removed yet, and her door was broken, but he needed help, and she was the only medic available.

"Doc." He poked her on the side this time.

Chiaki cracked a single eye open and screamed.

The intruder was large dark man, with muscles as big as logs, dark black moustache and no eyebrows, even darker hair was in a braid.

"Wait, just hear me out!" He avoided the pillow the nurse threw at him and caught the Ming dynasty vase that was thrown at his face. Chiaki didn't know where she got the vase, but seeing someone so terrifying first thing when you wake up was well, terrifying.

The man slowly put the vase down and gave her a peace sign. "Sorry for waking you up, but someone axed my back and I can't pull the weapon out." He put up an embarrassed grin.

Chiaki scowled and walked to his back, there was a large wood splitting axe embedded to between his shoulder blades. The man tried to reach it, but he was genuine when he said that he couldn't. The nurse sleepily took a short stool, stood on top of it and yanked the bloody thing out of his back. "Hold still while I get my kit." She said, handing him the weapon. "No, I'm okay." The man did a stretch, patted her head and left the clinic. But not before neatly placing her useless door at an angle so that it would at least cover something.

"Yeah, thanks." She said when he blocked her doorway and rolled back to her bed. _He'll come back after four days with an infection. _She thought. Yato were like that, they were a prideful race that doesn't bother fixing things, unless it was too late.

6 am:

Kamui moved from sleeping on his left side to sleeping on his back.

6:30 am:

Kamui moved from sleeping on his back to sleeping on his right side.

6:32 am:

Abuto watched in horror as a strand of white hair from his nose was clearly visible from the mirror.

6:35 am:

Chiaki stub her toe on a Ming dynasty vase that was hazardously placed beside her bed. She screamed and felt her eyes water from the pain it caused.

6:50 am:

Abuto decided to pull the strand of hair out. He took tweezers and YANKED THE ALBINO NOSE HAIR. Across the ship, there was a mysterious manly scream that erupted.

7:00 am

Chiaki knew she wasn't a vile creature. She knew she tried hard to avoid speaking unkindly to other people. She _tried_ hard, even when abducted, but her built up anger and frustration often clouds her reason. Now, as she walked, or maybe limped to her Captain's office. She had accidentally, without any mean intent brushed against the arm of a man, a Yato, who in coincidence was a man with unsavory character, racist, sexist, the kind of drunk you don't invite to your family gatherings, and quite possibly, the same kind of drunk who would hit his own wife and children out of a simple misunderstanding, in Chiaki's imagination of course.

She apologized and moved aside, giving the muscular man more than enough space to fit his person in.

He had other ideas.

He shoved her aside and said, "Watch, were ya're goin you fuckin bitch." _No need for the B word good sire._

Then he spat at her feet and glared at her.

"I said I'm sorry." She tried to ignore the sticky feel of her unfortunate foot. _Way to ruin a bad morning, jerk._

He smelled faintly of strong alcohol too.

"Well ya should be, why are you prancin around here even? Whores are no use for pirating!."

She forced a smile and said, "Well, no, I'm a doctor actually." She lied, it sounded infinitely better than student nurse, and hey, she read most of their medical books here and sometimes they call her, 'doc.'

"Doctor? Why don't ya stick to sucking pricks?" He turned away, triumphant.

Chiaki breathed in, _one, two, three…. Godsdammit. _Then she continued to the office, muttering a string of curses that would easily turned the story into rated M.

I wonder if I can smear his spit to Abuto's long ass cloak without him noticing.

It turned out Abuto didn't notice at all.

She started rewriting the last two pages she finished last night, she threw the original, deeming them too embarrassingly filled with errors. She was nearing the end of a page when the Vice Captain entered the second time on the office. (He was there when she first entered, and thus she smeared on him an ungodly amount of spit from her foot) Only this time, he was eating a giant steaming (pork?) bun and had something hanging off his shoulders. **Chiaki facepalmed when she saw that it was Kamui, his lower legs were hooked on the Vice Captain's shoulders. Kamui was upside down, hanging from Abuto's back, _reading _To Love Ru Darkness.

_So you only actually read when it's convenient for you, huh, bastard._

"Actually, I think he just tries to make sense of the pictures." Abuto replied, taking another bite.

"What?" Chiaki stared at the man. She said that aloud didn't she? Oops. She stole a glance from Kamui and found him too engrossed in the book to react on her statement.

_UUUURRRGHHHHHHHH~ _Chiaki's stomach growled.

Kamui fell from Abuto's back and did a complicated pirouette thing that made him look cool. The Captain and the Vice Captain looked at her with confusion.

"That wasn't me." The nurse said, lifting the both of her hands in defeat.

_UUUUUUURRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH~ _Chiaki's stomach growled again.

Abuto felt a little sad for her. "Doc."

Chiaki looked up and a steaming bun made its way to her face, then it flopped to her lap, whole and still hot. She slowly took the food out from her lap, placed it in the table and blew on her knees, trying to aim at the redder parts. "Shoot, I don't think I have anything for burns." She groaned. "You were supposed to catch it!" Abuto said incredulously. "Well sorry if I'm.. In a sling! And I'm not… ninja fast as you guys!" She reasoned out and bit into the bun.

"Mmm! This is really good!" She beamed and took another bite.

Abuto made a sound of disgust. "You want to say something, Abuto-san?" Chiaki eyed him. In the corner of her vision, Kamui flopped down an orange couch and read his ecchi series. _Huh, since when was there a couch here?_

"Didn't your mom teach you not to speak while your mouth is full?" Abuto scowled.

"I didn't strike me that you are an etiquette guy." She swallowed and bit a larger bite. "And my parents were never there to see me eat, there were always away." She looked away, feeling a familiar emotion creep into her chest. "Much less my mom."

Abuto rubbed his chin, "Hmm." He said thoughtfully, "a tragic past…. Are you an OC?"

"A what?" Chiaki gave him an equally thoughtful look. "No, my past isn't tragic. I had food, sufficient education and parents, even if they weren't around much… I wasn't also abused or anything. I was just, lonely I guess." She gave him a smile. "I actually really miss them." Now her chest hurt. She didn't think she would be this soft in regards to her mom and dad. She took Kamui's dismissiveness and Abuto's silence as cue that they weren't interested. She gripped her pen and continued writing.

"But, you love them right."

_Woah wait… _Chiaki gaped at Abuto incredulously. Did he just say the 'L' word? It felt a little strange for the man to start showing emotion now_. Not while I'm still hating you dammit! How am I supposed to be all angry at both of you if you give me free breakfast and start saying the L word all of the sudden!_

The silence lasted for about five minutes, her staring and gaping at Abuto, and Kamui staring and gaping at Abuto.

"Yes, I love them." Chiaki finally replied.

Abuto put out a long sigh. "Thanks." He said, "that was embarrassing.." he continued. Chiaki could have sworn she saw a brief show of emotion in the man's eyes, but it went away too fast for her to recognize it.

"Humans are stupid then." Kamui said, then folded his legs, never taking eyes from his book.

"I don't believe using me as a basis for all human kind is a fair thing, Captain." The nurse frowned at his comment. She knew humans are a weak, greedy, selfish kind, but she would rather not have some pompous race belittle her race just like that. There are those also, who are strong, courageous and awesome. Chiaki remembered the doctor in her old clinic that helped others, and for some reason, the white natural perm and his band of misfits that gave her a hard time in asking them to pay.

"As I would not also use _you_ to judge your race." She finished, face a little red from irritation.

She jumped as he snapped his book shut.

"Know your place human nurse-san, don't presume to know how my mind works, we are light-years apart, we are very different." Kamui smiled, and for once, Chiaki didn't think of his eyes as 'alarmingly blue that would make anyone jealous', they were innocent looking, but heavy, calculating, _terrifying._

The nurse gulped. She surrendered. But she was defiant, "I didn't mean to imply that there are similarities between us. I personally think that there are none, and would be devastated to find that I am wrong." She watched him for a response. Kamui seemed to ponder a little, he opened his mouth to speak when Abuto rudely interrupted.

"Get a room you guys!" He said, grinning like a fool.

"What?" Chiaki snapped.

"Nothing, I just wanted to say that for some time now, but it's kinda hard since women don't apply for pirating. So I don't really see couples walking by"

"What?" Chiaki said again.

"We don't have Yato women here. You didn't notice?"

Kamui took his manga, held it like a shuriken and aimed for Abuto's head. It flew and dug into the older man's scalp. A fountain of blood ruined the carpet. "That was for interrupting the Captain." Kamui said, he leaned on the couch, procured a meat bun from his pocket and started munching loudly. Abuto ignored his bleeding head and pointed an accusing finger at his Captain. "Give me back my mystery meat bun!" He barked and tackled to Kamui. Kamui kicked his subordinate's chest and had him slammed to the ceiling. Abuto's torso got stuck in the panels. The nurse could hear his screams of curses and threats. She couldn't help him even if she tried, she was too short to reach out and yank the fool from the newly repaired ceiling.

"Got anything else to say?" Kamui cocked his head to her direction.

Chiaki shook her head and made an x sign with her right hand.

"Good, help Abuto and your head will be stuck there next okay?" Kamui ordered darkly.

"Yes! Most feared and respected Captain!" She saluted. She was crying on the inside.

"Good girl." The Captain chirped. He walked near her and shot his arm forward. The nurse yelped and dodged. Only to find out that Kamui wanted to pat her head. She reluctantly allowed him, he gave her three heavy ones and bounded off, most likely to cause abomination on the ship.

_It would be nice if you don't treat me like a dog._

She could imagine herself leveling up from the tier, yesterday's garbage to lice infested vermin to mangy dog.

When he left, the nurse looked at Abuto, who was struggling to remove himself from the ceiling. "Abuto-san.." She tested, not sure if he could hear her.

When she heard a barely audible, "yes" she smiled.

"Thanks for interrupting earlier." If he didn't, Chiaki could have imagined the danger she could have put herself in.

She couldn't hear him then. But if she walked closely, she could hear him ask for help.

She also thought it would be unfair if he didn't know.

"The Captain also removed your pants; you have bad taste in underwear." She said in disgust, collected the paperwork she needed to do and ran off to her clinic. She didn't want to get caught doing forced labor in her Captain's office with a nasty looking chandelier hanging from above.

* * *

><p>Author's note:<p>

I have no idea what I'm doing…. But I will still continue! :D

*There is a belief that when people sneeze, someone is thinking about them

**I saw a fanart where Abuto was walking with Kamui in a similar position. I found it hilarious.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes, English is not my first language and I am not used to writing in English. People around me don't even speak it, so I don't have much practice. I'm trying though, so I guess it counts as something.

Thank you for reading! Reviews are always welcome.


	5. Chapter 5

Yeeyy! An update!

I had nothing to do so I typed a new chappie!

I do not own Gintama

* * *

><p>It was midnight on the ship.<p>

"Aiko-san, I-" Aiko shushed Chiaki.

"No, no, no dear, call me Aiko-_chan_." The okama's hands currently in his hips. "Y-yes _Aiko-chan_" Chiaki shivered.

"Good." Aiko gave the shivering nurse a coquettish smile. Aiko, ordered attention with his pink hair, a darker, deeper shade than Chiaki's, tanned muscular figure and the colorful contrast his uniform had compared to the other Yato that preferred black. He was a large man, but as he had repeated over and over, a woman at heart.

He looked at Chiaki with disapproving eyes, noting her mismatched shoes and tattered clothing. He made a disapproving sound and went inside the ship's kitchen. Chiaki stood outside the double doors and heard sounds of clanging metal and rustling. The nurse went to the back door of the kitchens, every a few days to beg for food. Initially, she went hungry for a day and a half before meeting Aiko, terrible looking he may be, he was genuinely kind. Appearances are deceiving, she thought, she never found truth in that saying until her days on the leaky ship. She thought of the Captain, he looked normal, compared to his men, but he was their bancho she hasn't seen him for days, which was good.

"Human nurse-san? What are you doing?" Chiaki yelped and spun to see Kamui behind her.

"Captain?" She squinted. Kamui looked like hell, his braid was half undone, clothes a bit ruffled and there were bags under the bags of his eyes. He looked a bit icky, hell, he looked like he was mauled by hellhounds and left under the sun for days.

"Lieutenant? What are you doing here?" Kamui ignored the nurse and stared at his lieutenant, who was holding bread, apple like fruits and two bottles of juice and a glass bottle of milk in hand.

"Just giving Chiaki food." Aiko handed the goods to Chiaki who smiled sheepishly at Kamui.

"Wait. Lieutenant? You're the Vice Captain?" The nurse questioned the Okama who in reply waved his hips obscenely and giggled.

"No, dear, I'm the second lieutenant. Abuto-kun is the Vice-Captain, you see, I get the job when he dies." There was a dark glint in his eyes that they ignored.

"Ah! But look at the time, I still have a few dishes to finish! See you later Chiaki, see you later Kamui-sama." Then he bounced off merrily, and entered the double doors.

_Don't leave me alone with Kamui-sama!_ Chiaki thought with a look of restrained fear.

"Can't sleep huh?" She gave him a large smile.

Kamui avoided the purity of her smile. He covered his eyes a bit. "How did you know?" He asked, voice a bit too rusty.

_Maybe because you look like you haven't slept a wink since three days ago?_ She decided to not be a smart ass.

"Because you're awake?" She said instead, and dug her heel on her own foot because of her stupidity.

When Kamui didn't give a reaction, she gave a sigh then slowly backed away.

Kamui put a hand on top of Chiaki's head, gripped her skull tightly and then loomed over her.

"How the hell did ya manage to beg food from the Okama Lieutenant Human nurse-san?" _I've tried for years now, YEARS! And all I get is a freaking 'tsk tsk' disgusting gesture and him saying that I need to lessen what I eat!_ No, Kamui wasn't jealous at all. He could have killed Aiko already, but he cooks so good, and he was good at employing crew.

"I don't know! I begged desperately! You're crushing my skull!"

"How did you beg!" Kamui lifted her by her skull.

"I'll show you DAMMIT! Just let go!" She squealed. Kamui let go and stared at her intently.

_I can't believe this is really happening…_ Chiaki gulped. "Okay, the key thing is to look despondent enough for Aiko…-chan….. to believe!"

"Show me." Kamui looked dead serious enough.

"You have to look all dirty and tired…. Which you do right now so, good job!" Chiaki said smiling wryly. "Okay…and then, you just knock at the doors and pretend you're that hungry, Aiko…..-chan…. Will give you food then, BUT don't feel discouraged if you fail! It took me two tries to get a loaf from him." She said giving him a shaky thumbs up, partly from the weight of the food that she held. "I'll get out of sight so it will be more effective okay?" She stammered out. There was a cloud of ominous miasma gathering around Kamui. _Two tries…. Two tries… _Kamui tried every three nights or so, and that Okama just won't give him a small midnight snack.

Kamui gave her a look of 'this better work' and knocked.

"Yeeesssss?" High pitched and girly. Aiko emerged from the kitchen doors with a ladle in hand, wearing a pink frilly apron. He was busy preparing breakfast.

Kamui tried to look desperate. However, what came out was eyes expressing a promise of death and bloodshed.

"Give me food." He said.

Aiko stared at him with a stoic expression and shut the door closed.

"It's okay." Chiaki said from the side, trying to give the Captain some comfort. "You'll get it next time."

_UUUUUUURRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHUUAAGGHHHUUEGGHHHHH _Kamui's stomach growled. The vile monster from the deepest pit has been awakened due to starvation.

"Or not.." Chiaki stared at Kamui who jumped at the doors and kicked it. The door merely shook. Kamui angrily punched the metal, soon enough imprints of his fists and bullet holes decorated the double doors. But it stood strong.

_Mannn I need that door._

"Captain?" Chiaki whispered.

Kamui stopped mid punch and glared at her hard, with shadowy eyes.

She handed out a meat bun and three pieces of fruit.

Kamui stood straight, he squinted.

"Don't squint Kamui-sama~! You'll get wrinkles and crow's feet easily!" Aiko popped his head up from the door and immediately retreated back when Kamui whacked his umbrella on where his head previously was.

"Here." Chiaki approached the Captain and gave him the bun and fruits.

Kamui stared at her wordlessly, his eyes were still dark and bloodshot from lack of sleep, but they weren't brutal.

"You're welcome." She said, smiling.

She turned around to leave, hoping Kamui won't get the idea that killing her will lead to tripling his plunder.

"Oh!" She remembered something and turned to the red head. Who was still standing stick still. "Milk can help you sleep. It helps me sleep, so maybe it'll work for you too. Ehe… hehe…" She gingerly placed the bottle of milk near the Captain.

"Good night Captain, have a good rest." She said finally. Giving him a perfect ninety degree bow and sprinted back to her home base.

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_I'm gonna be late." Chiaki said offhandedly. Then, she picked up her bag and turned to leave when her father yanked her by the arm, his nails digging into her skin._

_"__Look at me when I'm talking to you, Chiaki!"_

_Wait a bit, this dream again? Chiaki thought. Oh, no. Then Captain will…._

_"__Let me go!" She struggled on his grip. Craning her neck to behind her father, if Kamui was there, she should be able to stop him before he stabs her father to death. Just like what happened the last time she dreamed this._

_ "__Pay attention when I'm speaking!"_

_"__Let go of me! Look behind you!" Chiaki pulled her arm back. She saw her mother walk through their doorway. Her father looked behind him when a familiar purple umbrella shot through air sideways and knocked her father unconscious._

_Her mother screamed, Chiaki ignored her and glared angrily at Kamui._

_"__What was that for!" Chiaki held her dad in a better position on the floor._

_"__The old man was getting noisy." Kamui said, his umbrella resting on his shoulders. Behind him, Abuto was using his pinky finger to pick out something from his ear._

_The hell? Even Abuto-san is in the dream?_

_Chiaki felt the bite of cold wind and shivered._

Chiaki felt the bite of cold wind and opened her eyes. Kamui yanked off the blankets covering her body. She instantly felt panic.

"Where's the emergency!" She tumbled out of bed, and kicked the bed sheet that got entangled by her foot. She hurriedly brushed her ruffled hair with her fingers and snatched the medical box from her bedside. If Kamui himself was there, then serious shit was upon them, and her service was needed.

"Let's go get breakfast." The Captain said.

"What?" Chiaki said intelligently.

"Are you deaf as well as an idiot?" He said, there was mirth in his eyes. His eyes were not bloodshot and there were no bags that decorated under. In short, he was sparkling and full of energy. It was heavily contrasted to Chiaki who barely slept; she was slouched, tired and pissed off.

"No, no, no, I heard you the first time" She pursed her lips in irritation. "What, the_ hell_ are you doing here!" She waved her arms frantically. This was wrong in many ways. _And where is your loyal pup Abuto who's always around? Huh?_

"For breakfast." Kamui simply replied.

"Breakfast?"

"I don't like being in debt."

Chiaki stared at him incredulously, made incoherent sounds and gave up._ Oh, yes, the milk and the pork bun, yes. _She dropped her box and put on shoes, her right shoe, which was with her when she was taken, and a left shoe, the one she found under the bed when she cleaned the pace. Kamui frowned at that. She frowned too, she hadn't had any choice dammit! There weren't malls in the ship, and what would she do? Ask for donations?

She went to a cramped corner and struggled to pull open a cabinet door. She reached out and pulled a blazer from her school uniform, she wore it and stared at Kamui who was staring disapprovingly.

"Hey, I know I look like an idiot, but I got no choice in this matter." She was wearing sky blue nurse pants, her black blazer to cover her dirty blouse, black socks and those horrid shoes.

She didn't have decenter clothes… unless she wanted to parade around in a sailor uniform, with the skirt and all that.

Ten minutes later:

Chiaki did a double take; she almost gaped, almost, at the place around her. 'Let's go get breakfast.' yeah right, and by people in the seventh division, it meant sitting along with beefy men in a crowded, smelly canteen. Unfortunately, Chiaki wasn't blessed with the sixth appendage and wasn't ripped like the rest of the clan. Such a sight was worthy of eye-bleach. The canteen looked more like a fighting arena jungle than a place to sit and fill one's own hunger bars. "You eat here?" She muttered, feeling her resolve dwindle in the wind. Thankfully no one yet has noticed her presence; there would be no shame to run away. She will remember the way to the Canteen and avoid it…. Forever… _Is that a cow?_

In her peripheral vision, she saw a large man, dressed as a chef; pull a live struggling three eyed cow into the kitchen.

"Wow, look at the time." She said pointing at her wrist where her watch had been. "I really need to find poultice." Chiaki said and turned around, ready to run when Kamui caught her by the neck. He wasn't the least bit amused.

Who can blame her?

"You have hid in the shadows for too long Human nurse-san. Look" He grabbed her head and forcefully turned it so she could see Abuto. The dirty blonde was approaching a long table, whistling. Then he jumped forward! He crashed with a bigger more muscled fellow who was going to sit and rolled on the metal floor. Snarling and attacking with fervor. Chiaki gaped in horror as the bigger of them both, ripped a tuft of hair from Abuto's scalp. Abuto screamed and punched his neck. The unnamed Yato chocked, spit flew from his mouth in effort to breathe. Abuto stood triumphant and took the man's seat. His fellow comrades saluted at him and patted his back in a congratulatory manner.

_'__They're barbarians!'_ Chiaki felt her blood freeze.

"Normally, Abuto is not allowed to attack anyone on the ship, I've forbidden him to do so –he kills all the strong opponents, so I miss the fun stuff– but, here I allow him to. Each Yato needs to fight for his own place in my ship. A good way to show your ranking is to find a seat. Those who sit on the floor, are scum." Kamui said. The man who got whooped by the vice-captain was dragged by a few men to a sad corner of the room. It was dark, and those who sat on the floor had it as their shameful corner.

"You have to try Human nurse-san!" He let her scalp go.

"But.. _I'll get creamed!_" Chiaki said.

"It's an order."

_You're really trying to get me killed huh! You son ova!_

Kamui walked to where Abuto sat, went to the where she called was the 'boss chair' held the poor sod who sat there by the shoulder and in a blink of an eye, he flew ten meters and landed on a heap.

The nurse stood there for a full five minutes debating if she should risk her life and get killed on the Captain's stupid order or postpone her death and die when the Captain orders someone to assassinate her.

_Okay, Chiaki, courage, you can do it! You can do it!_

She walked in, and she could feel the stares. Hopefully, she thought, that those whom she treated could recognize her and maybe provide her with a bit of leeway. She didn't recognize any.

On her left was a lean man, he wore a green Chinese cloth hat, black clothing and thick leader boots. There were machetes strapped to his waist and a green umbrella on his back. He sneered at her. He was looking for a seat too.

On her right was the biggest man she had laid her eyes on. No shirt. Only pants. A scale of 11/10 in manliness. Head, half shaved, black hair on a thick braid, black umbrella.

_Shit…_

Then she saw movement. A Yato, all shield and muscle scooted closer to his companion. If she ran there fast enough. She could sit! She moved five paces to the welcoming space when a thinner, leaner hand appeared from under the table. The hand grasped the wood with its nails and a thin man squeezed himself in and got himself a seat.

"That man is known as sharp nail Kuroda! That's his special technique, under the table claw speed attack. Some say it took years for him to master." No shirt big man whispered to Chiaki's ear, he was full of awe. "The hell are you doing!" She backed away. Surprised. They took it seriously, too seriously. "If you want, we can welcome you to our place." He pointed at the dark shameful corner.

Chiaki was tempted to say yes and go on with it, but Kamui's words echoed in her ear. _"Those who sit on the floor are scum."_

She gulped and politely refused. She would leave if she really couldn't. She still had fruits back at the clinic. The biggest of them three surrendered and sat on the floor. Chiaki felt resolve.

She walked rounds quietly, away from the scary man who had machetes and spotted her opportunity.

A man walked to a rowdy table. He had his back turned at her. He was approaching a seat. She took a short glance at machete man and was glad that he was distracted. She took of her shoes. Sneakily followed the man until he was near the table, then she told herself that the years her father forced her into studying martial arts will pay off now. She may not have able to use it at the Lizard General before, but _now._

She tiptoed, gained speed and aimed a roundhouse kick at the place behind the Yato's knee. The man made a yelp of surprise and fell on his back. She turned to her right sharply to miss his fall. She slipped a little, there wasn't enough friction in her socks, gained her balance and beat the Yato to his seat.

"Yes!" She said, smiling with the radiance of ten Earth suns. Her heart hammering in her chest in fear.

Then there was a deafening silence.

Her two seat mates were terrifying in comparison to the others she's seen. The one on her right was missing an eye and had scars decorate his body. The other one was eating raw meat, biting it, _tearing_ it from bone while glaring at her.

"Chiaki!" There was no mistake, it was Aiko, the okama.

He was sitting in front of her, a bit to the left.

But not anymore, the Lieutenant/cook bounced from his seat and hugged the nurse. His chest laid to a _thud_ on the table and his vice grip allowed minimal oxygen for Chiaki. "That was a~mazing! Never in my imagination would you do that! Don't put yourself in danger again Aki-chaaan!" Those who were on the table who glared at her gaped instead at the okama who was shaking his ass in delight, some vomited, while others looked away in disgust.

"Aiko-chan! I can't breathe!" She said.

"Mou, sorry about that, but you should warn me first before doing that m'kay?" The okama let go of her.

"Yes Aiko-chan!" Chiaki breathed out. Then she gaped.

"Yes, that's right. Beside Aiko-sama is the esteemed Abuto-sama! Abuto-sama is the Vice-Captain, Chief of Political Relations, he is a master, some say, he singlehandedly defeated the army of bikini bombshells in planet blonde bombshells! To the right of Abuto-sama is Kamui-dono! The lightning spear of Harusame! The strongest, fastest, coolest lookin-"

"ARE YOU AN MC OR SOMETHING!" Chiaki slapped the face of the earlier man who offered her to sit on the shameful corner.

"I am Konbu, aspiring MC" He gave her his business card and barrel rolled. _Kelp… I can't believe it, his name means Kelp._

Chiaki wanted to die at the spot. The table she got in was a different from the others. By different, it had more food, the elites of the ship, banners decorating its top and the people who sat are plain scarier than the others. Kamui gave her a thumbs up and Abuto gaped ugly.

She heard a groan and turned around. Then she regretted everything. It was the same sexist rude man whom she bumped into weeks back. He was the one who ridiculed her, who made fun of her profession, _who spat at her feet._ He grunted and approached her. Konbu, who was conveniently standing nearby rushed to the man, slung his arm to his shoulder and led him heartily to the corner of shame.

Chiaki suddenly felt afraid. Her appetite was gone. Her breakfast was_ still_ stale bread, with fear and sleepiness as garnish.

* * *

><p>Abuto kicked the scrap of metal that was once a door which barely covered the entrance of the clinic.<p>

"Chiaki! Paperwork time!" He grinned and wanted to rub his hands together but he only had one arm left so he rubbed his itchy back instead. "Eh? NURSE!" He yelled at looked around the small clinic. He frowned and looked under the bed, none. He approached a rusty looking locker and opened the door, the locker door snapped off its hinges. Abuto gingerly put the door down, checked the bathroom and found no one.

Chiaki smirked from inside the wall. Air vents were a good hiding spot. Abuto had no damn clue where she was, she needed to get revenge from him breaking her locker though.

"I guess she's out huh?" Abuto told himself.

Chiaki smiled triumphantly.

Abuto's arm darted upwards, directly to the air vents. His arm pierced the metal cover and got ahold of Chiaki's arm. She screamed and got dragged out of the space she hid.

"YOU NEVER LEARN DO YOU?!" Abuto laughed and avoided a scratch that she aimed at his neck. He lifted her from her collar and grinned. "Try harder next time, okay?" He smiled wider. Chiaki was unamused. She craned her neck to one side and bit his arm, hard.

"That's not painful." He lifted her higher, inspecting the bleeding arm.

"There is a hundred percent chance that a bite from a human will cause infection." She said. _Revenge!_

Abuto started at her then shrieked. He let go of her collar and she hurriedly made a beeline to the door. Chiaki ran at full speed to the Captain's office. Her initial plan didn't work, but she quickly thought of another. She skidded to a halt and pushed the large doors open with all her strength. The office was dark, there wasn't anyone in. The nurse smiled to herself and hid behind the orange couch Kamui loved to laze in. She knew Abuto wouldn't look for her in the office, where he wanted to drag to her in the first place. She waited for a full ten minutes before sneaking out.

Chiaki took a glance at her left, and at her right then tiptoed back to her clinic, humming the mission impossible theme song in her head. Somehow, in the back of her mind, Chiaki knew that it was futile, but Abuto won't kill her for that bite right? _Right?_

She turned to a corner and immediately retreated. Dirty blonde Abuto-san was having a less than pleasant conversation with the rude scary drunk, whom she learned to be named as Nobuo.

"That _bitch_ is going to cause bad luck in the ship!" Nobuo said in an angry low voice. She could hear him breathe angrily. Chiaki wanted to leave but for some reason, she knew that the man was talking about her.

_"__Wrong, a lot of luck, she's doing the paperwork you drunk bastard!"_ Abuto thought.

"I don't believe in superstitions, Nobuo, and she's the _only_ medic, it would be a pain if she died just like that." Abuto said impatiently.

"Medic my ass! She's just a whore that doesn't know anything!"

_Ohhh… burn_. Chiaki felt a vein pop. She should really leave before things get out of hand.

"NO, I'm not gonna get rid of her, and neither should you, vice-captain's orders." Abuto wanted to cross his arms so bad and flip the bird on him twice, but he kept on forgetting that he lost his arm. Sometimes he could still feel it, as if it was there. And it caused embarrassment.

Then Nobuo sloppily pushed Abuto. Abuto stood strong, unamused, his face held no emotion.

Nobuo taunted Abuto in ways that pissed the nurse off. "_Why won't Abuto punch him and get it over with!" _Chiaki thought. _Then remembered, oh yeah, the boss ordered him to not attack anyone on the ship. Right. But he attacked the Captain a few times….So maybe everything will be alright in the end._

Chiaki walked away.

She heard Nobuo say something in the lines of_, you're just pathetic as that –insert b word here-. Stop kissing the Captain's asshole already, it's disgusting!_ Only with more bad words that will turn the fanfiction into not rated M, but rated MA.

Chiaki stopped walking.

"Eh", she said, because her sense of self-preservation wasn't_ normal_, that specific gene of mundane had skipped her generation, her mother mourns.

Abuto must have found it glorious and absolutely outstanding, because he brightened up when Chiaki sneaked behind Nobuo, gripped his abandoned umbrella tight and swung it down to his skull. She wasn't that strong, but the force of her swing, plus the indestructability of the parasol and the drunk as hell state of the rude man certainly helped.

Nobuo wobbled a bit, still confused, and then fell unconscious with a strong thud.

Chiaki sparkled with joy. For the first time, she knocked someone out completely, and not have to go through embarrassment like what happened in Chapter one. He also didn't see her, so it was a win win situation.

"Why?" Abuto said, smiling widely, not the, '_you're next to be brought in the torture chambers muahahaha_' but the, '_You're better than all those fools I command, I'll kill you last."_

_This is your time to act cool Chiaki!_ She thought.

"Because we're friends, and friends are supposed to look out for each other, right?" She smiled. But deep inside she groaned, she should have said cooler lines like, 'heh, he was getting a bit too loud for my liking' but nooooo, she just had to go for the good guy scenario. She gave him a thumb up.

Abuto would have made an expression of being totally touched by the fact that someone volunteered to be his friend, along with the sparkly effects and the roses background, a small drop of tear at his left eye and the choir of the heavenly host would have went down and sung a note or two, if he gave a shit, which he did not. He grabbed the shoulder of her blouse and dragged her to the office, screaming words like, "betrayer!" and "I THOUGHT WE WERE TIGHT!"

**The Office**

Chiaki decided then that she hated Abuto completely. The man was on his own desk, playing a PSP with one hand!

While she was there sitting on her own desk for two hours now doing their taxes. She inwardly hoped that Abuto was not enjoying himself, and was instead playing some barbie dress up game instead.

Chiaki put the neatly filled up forms and found a letter at the bottom. It was not written in Japanese, the blocky text indicated that it was in the language of the Yato. Something she didn't know how to read, the envelope was rough, thick and made of badly glued manila paper, it was sealed with a dollop of wax. There was a crest in the wax. She brought the strange envelope closer to her face and read the tiny Japanese characters in it.

"Umi…Umibo..zu.. Umibozu?" She frowned, _'sea monk? The hell?' _It was a Yokai name a demon, that old folks in Japan would tell granny stories to children. _Why would monks start sending letters to the 7__th__ division._

"Abuto-san?" She called out. Abuto grunted, paused his action game and gave her a look.

"There's a letter."

Abuto walked to her table and read the back part of the letter, to whom it was addressed to.

"It's for Kamui." He said plainly.

"YOU CAN READ AFTER ALL!" She snapped and snatched the letter away from his hand. "I can read specific words in Yato language, like, I know how to write my name, my captain's name, I know the word 'male' they write on bathroom doors."

She frowned at him, with disbelief.

"Okay, fine, I can read some Yato I know ninety percent of the words, but not Japanese." He smiled apologetically. "The Captain's at the third floor balcony." He pointed at the door. Chiaki wanted to tear out his other limb. She shot him a dirty look and pushed the door open, but not before failing twice to pull those damn heavy doors before smiling at Abuto so he could do it for her, with one hand again!

Chiaki frowned while walking to the balcony. She did it when she hid,_ twice!_ Maybe because her energy got drained by doing the entire knock the Yato unconscious gig. She took at peek at where Nobuo was and was satisfied that he was still sleeping on the floor, not able to chase after her.

It was halfway through the long walk to Kamui when she realized that she could have just left the letter at his table and not have to meet him. She groaned and turned to walk back, but then realized that her seven minute walk would have been useless and she would see Abuto's ugly mug again, _at least the Captain has some looks._

She continued walking.

_Nah, he's also ugly as fuck too, reminds me of that Prince Hata-san that always hosts on the rare and endangered species program at Nat Geo._

Chiaki stopped at a large door with a sign on the side that said "Third Floor Balcony." She pushed the doors with all her weight and strength and was awestruck.

An explanation to the dear readers, to be stuck at a ship for a few months now, yes, it had been that long already, with nothing but freezing air-conditioning and stuffy air, victims of this maltreatment would often forget the feel of a warm breeze and sunlight. Such as the reaction of Chiaki.

The sky was red, like an infected wound, there were three suns that warmed the atmosphere. The largest of them loomed over her, taking a portion of the sky, the other two were smaller and one was irregular in shape, almost like the earth's moon when it decides to do the half block of cheese look, it was disturbingly closer than the rest. There were only thin clouds and the sky was littered with giant birds.

The air was hot, but the speed of the ship created a breeze. Chiaki saw Kamui on the far end, sitting on a corner of a ledge, purple umbrella protecting him from ultraviolet rays.

The nurse pocketed the letter and walked over to the side of the balcony. She looked down and saw ridges, cliffs and tall mountains cover the planet. There was no vegetation, and she was too far to see if there were any villages in the place. She craned her neck and gaped when she counted about eight ships that followed the one she was standing on. All the same banners painted on the side.

"If you bend that far enough, you might fall."

"Captain! Please stop doing that!" _And stay in your corner please!_

She frowned, unamused.

"This is a dead planet. We just call it dead because it has little to no value to us." Kamui started babbling. Chiaki dead panned, at least he wasn't being murderous.

"Why are we so close to it then?" She asked.

"We have to restock provisions, the Harusame base a little far off, we can't take any chances."

"Oh."

Meanwhile:

Abuto put an end to three more generic villains on the game. There was something wrong nagging at the back of his skull like he did something stupid or something. The dirty blonde turned his game off and stretched on his chair. He walked to the couch, scratching his ass and laid down comfortably. He planned to take a fifteen minute nap first then finally face the final boss battle. He closed his eyes slowly.

He opened his eyes in panic.

_Shitshitshitshit!_

Who was crazy enough to send letters to the Captain in Yato language? Kamui ordered eradication of letters from his father, complete eradication! And he just- _shit!_

Abuto cursed loudly and ran to where his Captain was.

**Third Floor Balcony:**

"Abuto wanted me to give this to you." She handed Kamui the letter.

Once his fingers touched the envelope, he knew it was from his father. With a flick of a wrist, he let go of the paper, allowing it to fly in the wind.

Chiaki misinterpreted it.

She thought the mail slipped from his fingers.

The nurse leaped and seized the letter away from the embrace of mother wind and though, _shit_. Most of her upper body was in midair. She bent back, to where there was a nearer floor to land in, not the one miles down, but it was too late.

Chiaki yelped and felt her feet abandon the steel floor, she was falling. Then she felt it, Kamui grabbed the shirt Chiaki was wearing in reflex. Once falling to kingdom come, people tend to not notice other people trying to help them. In her case, Kamui, whom wanted to haul her up. He didn't do it out of the good intentions of his heart, providing he had a heart that was able to hold good intentions. It was more of his instinct.

The nurse wasn't heavy, but she struggled and flailed her arms in panic.

Kamui tipped forward, felt the rail dig on his stomach, his feet left the ground and he fell.

Our good Captain was thankfully used to these situations, having a habit to sit on edges of handrails.

He stretched his foot and locked it into the bars of the railing.

He dangled there in the air, still holding the nurse.

"Ola." Chiaki said, in deadpan. "If you let go of me, I'll haunt you forever, you will never have privacy, I'll haunt you while you're sleeping, while you're taking a shit. Who knows, I might haunt you while you're eating as well." She said.

Kamui let go of her.

Chiaki twisted and grabbed his torso and hugged it hard.

"Oops, haha, my hand slipped." Kamui said.

"YOU JUST TRIED TO KILL ME DIDN'T YOU!" Chiaki hugged him harder.

"Captain?" Abuto said from a safer spot of the ship, directly above them. He was going to prevent Chiaki from giving the Captain his father's letter. But it turned out that everything was under control.

"Abuto." They both said, only, Chiaki was more panicked.

"Dammit Captain, I told you to stop sitting on the edge! You're not batman! You know that!"

"Stop trying to make casual conversation and help your Captain!" Chiaki felt her arms slipping.

Kamui was calm as fuck.

Abuto was also calm.

Sometimes, Chiaki wondered if she was the only sane one in the ship.

Abuto bent down, grabbed ahold of Kamui's foot and pulled him back.

Abuto grabbed Kamui's boot.

His boot came off.

_Kamui and Chiaki fell and died, the end._

"DAMMIT BRAIN!" Abuto screamed, it was unforgivable that he had thought of such evil! He looked down below. He could see Kamui and the nurse disappear into one of the ravines in the planet.

He knew there was a 100 percent chance that Kamui would survive. Chiaki well, she'll be forever in his memory as his first friend. Abuto ran into the ship and barked orders to his men, he needed to get the coordinates of the place, and he needed to find his Captain. Kamui left his umbrella and the heat of the three suns will hurt him.

* * *

><p>I didn't know writing stories are super hard! I thought they were simple! D: I guess I'm wrong.<p>

Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Authors note:

Thank you for those who have patiently waited and those who even tried reading this! :D

I do not own Gintama.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Chiaki flipped in the air thrice before physics finally made a decision that she should land back first and have her spine crushed into bits before her other parts gets crushed into bits. "Abuto, I'm gonna haunt you, <em>forever!<em>" She cursed loudly and flipped a few more times again. She could see the ground inch closer to her.

"I'm gonna flush your toilet while you're doing your business and it'll be super scary!" She twisted in the air and did another flip.

"I'm going to shave you bald!" She turned over and did an accidental dive and spread her appendages to slow down the fall.

"I'm-" She felt her lungs ache for oxygen, she breathed in deeply and found herself hyperventilating. Chiaki shifted to her side and found herself falling sharply to her right. The nurse bumped hard into Kamui.

"Captain… why aren't we dead yet?" She asked. The fall was feeling a little too long for her liking.

"You're taking this better than expected." Kamui said, arms spread wide, falling with ease. Chiaki was embarrassingly spinning like a top, she felt her stomach lurch.

"What do you mean?" Chiaki was falling faster than the Yato. She waved her hands, trying to slow down.

"You're not screaming my ear off." He smiled to her.

Chiaki frowned.

"We're not dead yet, because it takes about three minutes from that height to down there."

"You're calm." She noted.

"I'll survive." He said diving down.

"Wait!" Chiaki cried and spun uncontrollably. She stretched and swam to the direction of her Captain. Something that she didn't know was possible. She could see the land come dangerously close and panicked. She looked at the ground and Kamui. Well, she thought, if Kamui killed her now then she should be able to avoid dying in a countdown.

She stared at Kamui who stared at her back.

_Fuck it! _Chiaki was about to grab his torso, hoping that maybe, if the man will survive, she will too. Kamui put out a welcoming hand.

Chiaki looked at him suspiciously.

If Kamui was a normal batshit insane Yato, he would have rolled his eyes in irritation, grabbed her, carried her bridal style, opened his umbrella and landed safely in the peak of a mountain, but Kamui is a batshit insane, _batshit insane_ Yato. The Captain of 7th Division pulled her irregularly cut pink hair, flipped her in the air, stomach down and secured her a place in his shoulder. Like a sack of rice in a delivery man's shoulder. When it was time to open his umbrella and decelerate. Kamui looked up and thought, _well, shit._

His glorious purple parasol that had killed _thousands_ of species was not with its master. The purple parasol with years' worth of bloodstains in it, -it was blue when his mother first gave it to him- was sitting forlornly on the third floor balcony. Abuto ordered his men to fetch it and place it in its equally glorious parasol rack, but everybody was having a hard time even getting close to the cursed object. It was emitting an ominous aura, possibly from the souls of the men it killed.

Kamui didn't end up in the peak of a mountain. He landed into the bottom of a ravine, with a broken leg, messed up hair and a slightly malfunctioning ear, also with a human bite on his chest, but that was irrelevant.

When Chiaki asked him why he saved her, he smiled from the center of the crater and said dreadfully, "If I die in the wilderness, I'm not gonna die alone."

Chiaki with bleeding teeth and forehead, painful ribs and spine, stomach hurting like hell, and trauma. She made an 'o' shape with her lips and blinked at him.

Kamui was disappointed with the reaction, but hell would freeze first before he'll show it.

The fall wasn't pleasant, Kamui was, as it turned out, a major noob at aiming to where he should land, he missed all of the elevated lands- where it would be easier for them to find- and landed in a deep canyon in the middle of fuckshit nowhere, the same place where there was a three hundred percent likely chance of being home to poisonous scorpions, belt long centipedes and poisonous snakes that will bring any toxicologist dive to his antidotes.

"Please, you have cockroach level vitality! You're like those characters in the anime that I watch! The ones that don't get blown up when a grenade is thrown at them, only, in your case, still survive a nuclear bomb." Chiaki pressed a finger to her ribs. It hurt. She licked her busted lip and had her tongue touch between her incisors. She face planted _hard_, into Kamui's chest, a tooth felt a little too loose. She vomited too, all over his leg. You see, when something hits you too hard, like a shoulder, into your stomach, you tend to get your breakfast to make a second appearance.

_At least I survived._ Chiaki shrugged.

"Then, if I'm going to suffer, I'm not going to suffer alone." Kamui said, the bastard.

She looked at Kamui who was trying to get up with a broken leg.

_Yeah, I should have died._

"Don't move dammit!" She turned to her side and slowly went to Kamui. "Your leg is obviously broken."

"Uhm, may I?" She inquired, wanting to remove his boot. There wasn't much vegetation in the area, but she knew she could find enough wood or a few twigs to make a splint. She wanted to inspect the damage first.

"No." Kamui said. He stood up fully and walked a bit. He tested his entire weight on his broken leg and found it okay enough to walk in. He looked around the area, sniffed the air and walked to his right.

"Wait, where are you going?" Chiaki asked, finding it difficult to stand too quickly, her heart was still racing, she was still panicked from the fall.

"The ship was only a few hundred miles where we fell from the terminal." He said and disappeared into a crack in a wall.

"Captain! But shouldn't you wait here and not move? Abuto-san might have gotten the coordinates and is going to get you." She said. When there was no response and the shadows cast by the rock formation had eerie snake sounds vibrate in the wind. The nurse took off and followed Kamui.

* * *

><p>"They WHAT?" Aiko was not amused, his arms were folded in his chest, perfect eyebrows in a scrunch.<p>

"They both fell off th-"

"ABUTO! I _know_ what happened, I heard it the first time you said it!" Aiko said disapprovingly. He walked around the room in circles for approximately a minute before turning to Abuto, armed with the most vile motherly okama angry face he could muster.

"Well what are you doing here then? GET A SEARCH PARTY GOING!"

"We have formed a search party already. I got the Captain's coordinates. Now I told him that every time this bullshit happens, he's supposed to stay put and let us do the rescuing. The Captain's smart enough not to do anything stupid like walk to this planet's terminal." Abuto said, he had full trust in his Captain's mind faculties.

Abuto saluted and turned to go, but not before Aiko stopped him with a muscular arm.

"Wait, Abuto, what am I supposed to do with this then?" Aiko held out a dress, a pink glittery frilly dress with rainbows, sequins and a neon green boa to cover the parts of the dress where it barely covered skin. Abuto shielded his eyes from the monstrosity and backed away in apprehension.

"What the _fuck _is that!" Abuto let out a manly screech. Such thing shouldn't even exist in the first place.

"I sewed it for Chiaki!" Aiko let out a coy smile and twirled the dress around. "But she's dead now, so…. Do you want to try this on?" He asked gently.

Abuto choked on thin air, he had a habit on doing that since Hosen had signed Kamui as a member of the Harusame, even more when the old fart retired and hosted a Yato caged fight, where the last one standing will be its new Captain. Abuto whooped a few asses back then, he had a chance, but then Kamui decided to be a jerk and shoved his foot up the poor man's asshole. Abuto survived and was made as the Vice Captain. He had hemorrhoids after that though, so it all turned out bad.

Abuto ran for his life before the dress came any closer.

* * *

><p>Chiaki didn't particularly hate the sun, she didn't particularly loathe anything that much to have a sense of the hating. She was starting to have second thoughts. She still loved the life giving, earth warming, vitamin D providing sun back at home. But three suns? Damn. Chiaki wanted to remote control Kamui's entire fleet to crash into the closest one and destroy it for good. The place heated up like an oven. She tried spitting on the ground once to remove the blood from her mouth only to see it sizzle in the sand and disappear into the atmosphere. Her other shoe was thin on the soles too. It burned her feet a little.<p>

She frowned at looked above. There were at least three vulture like birds that flew above them, each one irritatingly noisy, eyeing the both of them as if they were the only meat seen in months. In such an arid place, she was starting to think they were right.

Her lips were drying up too and the dark school blazer she had was sucking more of the heat than to repel it, but she didn't dare to remove the clothing. She didn't want the suns to have direct contact with her.

She looked at Kamui sluggishly, at least he was okay.

Kamui stopped walking, he sniffed the air, to the left, and to the right. He faced left and tripped on a large boulder.

_He's totally not alright!_

"Hey, hang in there!" Chiaki said, it hasn't even been three hours yet. And Kamui was faltering. "Oi!" She crouched down and rolled him so he faced her. Kamui had bits of sand in his face, his eyes looked glassy and he wasn't responding. Chiaki snapped her fingers.

"What?" Kamui said, looking to his left to face her.

"I don't think you should be in the sun for too long that was what the umbrellas were for right?" _I thought they were more of a fashion statement, or a Clan weapon. I should have known, stupid, stupid, stupid._

"I'm okay." Kamui said stubbornly.

"We've been walking straight for hours now, you have to get yourself in some shady area."

"I said I'm fine."

"You stay there and I'll look for something we can use."

"Human nurse-san, one more of th-"

"Captain." Chiaki said, her voice was deadpan.

Kamui raised an elegant eyebrow.

"You're facing the wrong way, I'm on your right, not on your left."

Kamui lay quiet for a few seconds.

"I knew that." He said and faced to his right.

"No, you're now facing my feet, I'm at about thirty degrees." Chiaki said.

"Yes, thirty degrees." Kamui said staring at her now.

_He's obviously hallucinating.._

"Can you stand?" She asked him, Kamui looked at her with a slightly irritated expression and hauled himself to stand. The nurse led him to a corner of two structures that met and politely asked him to sit there. Kamui didn't complain. He put his hand near his belt, produced a green flask and greedily drank it dry, all in the time as Chiaki stood there in the sun, thirsty.

The nurse was in no mood for any dramatics. She twitched angrily and kicked a rock, her foot got injured.

"Ah, yes right. I'll be back in a few." She said to the Captain, sulking as she went to the direction they were heading and looked around to see if there was anything useful. She spotted a dried shrub and started hacking the spiny twigs that were useless to her. She weighted her foot down on the base of the shrub and yanked thicker wood from its root. She could use it as a weapon, fire wood or even as a splint if Kamui wanted. Either way, she was glad she found something.

The nurse stayed out of the sun and walked around the area where Kamui was, not forgetting to check on him every ten minutes or so, so he would not leave her behind. She was about to give up and turn back to 'the base', when she spied something black from a strange rock formation meters away from her. There was reddish brown substance that trailed from the top of the rocks to the bottom where the black bulk of something rested. Chiaki stood there dumbly for a minute then slowly approached the area.

The reddish brown trail was as she had thought, blood, and surprisingly the black object that caught her attention was a black garbed man. A black garbed dead Yato. The man's bald skull had a dent on it, along with a large hole that attracted flies. For a moment, she was afraid that she would recognize the man, but she didn't.

The nurse frowned, were Yato susceptible to falling off their space ships?

She had a nagging sensation that the man was somehow pushed by the Captain to die a horrible painful death.

It meant two things for her,

One is that for the Captain to survive the fall, he must be the Arnold Schwarzenegger equivalent of his race. Or maybe, is their king….. Chiaki shook her head, nah.

Second, is there was a possibility that they were going on the wrong direction. If Kamui pushed the poor man, then they were walking_ away_ from the terminal, if Yato had a habit of jumping off ships, then they were doing it right.

Chiaki pondered for a while and decided to loot the dead body of its possessions. She took the dead man's grey scarf, it was better to hide from the sun than a dark blazer, and his broken blue umbrella. She tried to open the umbrella, but it was useless, the rod that held the sun repelling properties of the object was intact, but the cloth that covered the sun was torn and bloodied. She wrapped the scarf into the top of the umbrella, covering the large holes. Then something clicked. If Kamui had a flask, there was a likely chance that this man had it too. She thought, it may be complementary to the uniform.

_But the flask was located somewhere near Kamui's crotch, in a secret pocket…. Nope, I don't want to accidentally touch this dead man's crotch._

But then the idea of acting like a looney that's _that _desperate for water –like the people she watched in survival series in TV– was unappealing. Especially around her Captain.

She bit her lip, avoided the disturbing image of the man's bashed up face and groped blindly.

Chiaki found a flask and was pleased to find it almost full. She opened the cover and sipped on its contents, then almost spat it out.

_Ughh, It's lukewarm iced tea._

She drank a little more and made her way to the corner where she left Kamui. She was pleased to find him still there.

She noted that the large shadow where she left him was slowly diminishing in size.

She looked up and found that the largest of the three suns was slowly coming to the topmost portion of the sky.

_Shitshitshit_

Chiaki handed Kamui the makeshift umbrella and forced him up. Kamui looked okay, he wasn't smiling, but when she tentatively touched his skin, it was cold and sweaty.

He wasn't talking either.

"Captain, we have to find somewhere shadier to stay for a while." She said, the umbrella was too small for the both of them. And now she could feel the heat burn her skin. It was irritatingly painful.

_He must feel sick as hell if he's not coming up with some anything to say._

Twenty minutes later, they found a medium sized cave, it went a bit underground. The entrance was steep, but not deep enough to fall into. She impatiently scanned the cave for creepy looking insects or burrows that might be filled with snakes before relaxing. The cave went deeper, but she only needed to avoid the sunlight, so she didn't venture in. Not that she was brave enough to. The place was dim, but the light from the entrance made it easy to see the rocks and crevices that dangerously scattered around. There was a creepy hole deeper inside, it went deep underground. It was a bit damp and occasionally blew cool air out to the surface. She avoided the hole.

"Captain?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes?" _Good at least now you're responding, I was afraid I'd get trapped in here with a walking corpse._

"Did you by chance push a man off the balcony before we fell?"

"Why do you think I was in the balcony in the first place?" He said, giving her his creepy smile.

Somewhere in the dark messed up place in which is Chiaki's brain, she mentally hit her head against a wall, but she did it in reality too, so never mind.

"That means we were going at the wrong direction." She said. "The airport, I mean their terminal is that way." She pointed at the opposite way in which they were going.

Kamui was not amused.

"I got this from him." She took the flask and shook it a little, indicating that there was water, or iced tea in it. She grinned.

Kamui's eyes looked glassy as ever.

"Did you touch his crotch?" He asked, flicking a pebble into a random corner.

"…." Chiaki looked at him with a dead expression. "Yeah, a little bit." She said, then decided that it was the end of the awkward conversations.

The nurse divided the drink equally and checked the situation outside of the cave. The light was blinding, she took her hand out and immediately took it back in, the heat burned her skin.

"Try to conserve the water you have as much as you can." She told Kamui.

Chiaki walked around for a bit, poking the fissures of the cave with the wood she collected. After a while of boredom, she carved into a smooth portion of the cave the words, 'evil lair' and sulked for a bit. It was taking Abuto too long to rescue Kamui, and that meant staying longer in the shit hole. She took the scarf she used to repair the umbrella and tried to sleep a little. She felt somehow secure that a Yato was with her, even if he's not really that much into team work. She still didn't trust him fully, so she took a far corner and slept.

Well, more of closed her eyes for an hour.

Kamui's stomach was _noisy._ The first growl, that indicated he was hungry, vibrated through the entire cave system that Chiaki thought it was some kind of alien desert worm that was off to kill them both. Every ten minutes, his stomach would complain. Every ten minutes, she would wake up.

Chiaki irritatingly woke up and went outside of the cave; the sun was still too strong.

She couldn't find food even if she wanted to, if there was anything edible outside. The Captain would just have to suck it up and rely on his stomach lining for nutrition. She was feeling a little hungry too.

"Captain, show me your leg please, I need to check it." She asked for the second time that day.

Kamui looked at her with mild irritation and refused.

"With regard to healing the sick, I will devise and order for them the best diet, according to my judgment and means; and I will take care that they suffer no hurt or damage." She stopped for effect. "That's the dumbass Hippocratic oath I am supposed to say a week after you and Abuto abducted me from the clinic. I'm a graduating student, I was about to graduate" Chiaki let out a shaky breath. She was the youngest in her class, she was supposed to finish and create a life of her own, not this. Not _this._

She pursed her lips, "I already feel useless, so can I just check your freaking leg so at least I am assured that there is no open wound, and you're not dying in pain as I speak!" She didn't say it angrily, it was spoken softly. Kamui didn't respond, and she felt like a frustrated idiot as the seconds tick by.

"I am alright, no." He insisted.

"The last time you said you were alright, you were hallucinating from the heat. I saw you avoiding putting much weight on your leg when we went here, just let me put a splint on it." She frowned.

Whether the Captain was irritated that she saw right through him, or her persistence peeved him. She didn't know.

"If you don't shut your fucking mouth, I will kill you." Kamui said.

Chiaki felt her skin crawl. His threat felt genuine but his actions earlier on saving her contradicted to what he was saying.

His statement infuriated her.

"Why did you take me from earth then?" She whispered and sat on the dirty ground. "If you're not going to let me do my job in the first place" she bit her lip her lip in annoyance.

"And it's not that I'm going to tell anyone. That's what friends do right?" She they both stared at each other.

Kamui's eyes were filled with mirth, and not the good kind.

"Is that what you thought?" He commented, his lips drew a smirk. "That we would become anything as close as friends?"

Chiaki's eyes widened. _Uh oh _she thought, she hadn't meant to say the last part of her sentence. It was just a habit she had caught from the doctor she worked with. She was about to deny when the full force of his words hit her.

"If you think that I would think of you as the opposite of pathetic and aggravating? Then you're not just weak, but an idiot too." He looked at his nails and flicked the dirt that gathered on its ends.

He scoffed and stared at her numbly.

"I have no use for weaklings."

For a moment, Chiaki could do nothing but stare at him. She felt a familiar stinging sensation in her eyes, she felt tears pool at their edges. Then it was white hot rage. Her throat was dry and she felt the words hit her hard.

Kamui laid back cooly, they were all the same, he thought. She reminded him of her sister, Kagura, who cried at everything, it was pitiable. Kamui never cried, and he never will.

He was taken out of his stupor when the ground connected with her fist. Her hand hurt more than she would have liked. She snarled at him, for a moment, she looked dangerous.

"Then why the _fuck _did you take me away from Earth!" She repeated. She felt her tears slide down her chin. She rubbed them away stubbornly.

_Go rot in a hole._

She must have said it loudly, because Kamui's eyes hardened.

"Then you're fired."

Chiaki wanted to punch him, she wanted to kick him where the sun doesn't shine, she wanted to run and go home, but she couldn't. She instead walked deeper into the cave, away from his sight. She didn't want him to see her sulking, she didn't want to see his mug anyways.

She frowned and wiped her remaining tears away.

She had been called lots of names, but it was her first to be called, stupid, pathetic and a weakling in one solid minute.

She took a pebble and angrily threw it into the aforementioned hole that went underground. It echoed from hitting the walls and landed with a fleshy thump.

Ten minutes later she knew it was a stupid idea that she stormed off. Her hand hurt badly and the darker part of the cave creeped her out. She wasn't angry anymore, she didn't like to be a constantly pissed off teenager, optimism did wonders to the health.

She just needed to convince herself that the man probably had a shitty childhood that led him to be a grade A prick.

Chiaki sighted, took another rock and threw it again on the hole.

It fell into a fleshier thump.

Chiaki frowned, something was off. She wasn't scared, right?

_I'm not scared, I'm not scared…._

And then a voice echoed out from the cave: "Eh, another rock, I must be hallucinating from the heat, aha-ha-ha-ha-ha"

The nurse squealed and ran to the mouth of the cave, screaming and flailing in panic. She tripped and fell embarrassingly elbows first in Kamui's feet. He stood up when he heard her screaming.

"There's something in the hole!" She shifted uncontrollably, her heart was beating wildly, it was embarrassing.

Kamui walked deeper into the cave and peered into the dark entrance. He squinted and leant closer.

"Hello?" the captain said.

"Eh? Is someone here other than me? Hello to you too! Are you lost like I am?" Came a cheery voice from inside the cave. There was silence as Kamui resisted the urge to punch himself, the day was getting crappier and crappier. When he didn't answer the voice grumbled and said, "It must be my imagination aha-ha-ha-ha."

"We're lost like you are!" Chiaki said from above. Kamui glared at her.

"…. That's cool, aha-ha-ha-ha, so, can you help me out of here?"

"But even if we want to help you, which we don't, we don't have anything to pull you out of there, that hole is seriously deep, I can't even see what you look like, so please just die there." Kamui said, smiling.

Chiaki punched him in the arm, but he didn't feel anything.

The man in the hole quieted down, seconds seemed to tick by the, "I have a 2 liter Pocari with me."

Chiaki was about to say something when Kamui gripped a rock and broke it into pieces.

"Where's your proof if we can't see you." He said, he sounded desperate. Chiaki shut her mouth.

She whispered, "Captain, you still have about 300ml of juice with you right?" Kamui stared at her with bloodshot eyes. _You drank it all! Didn't you!_

"Aha-ha! I have a lighter!" There were sounds of struggling, then the man flicked the lighter open. He was a tall man, shaggy brown hair, wore a ridiculous pair of round sunglasses, and wore a dark red coat.

"I'm Sakamoto Tatsuma! What's your name?"

Chiaki face palmed, the ridiculously deep hole was nothing more than a few feet deep, if you really tried hard enough, you could have climbed out of it. The man looked like an idiot. Her senses were tingling.

"Okay, my slave will help you up if you throw me your Pocari first, understand?" Kamui said.

_How desperate are you for water? And what do you mean slave?_

Sakamoto was an idiot.

"Okay!" He said and threw the Pocari at Kamui. The man must be incompetent as hell, because the bottle bounced off meters from the mouth of the hole, spun in the air and flopped back to his face, his glasses broke from the contact and the bottle dropped down a sharp rock, it split in half from the force and the precious Pocari leaked and got absorbed by the dirt ground.

A large brown snake slithered from a random hole and ate the plastic that held the few precious drops that it held.

_"__I _must be hallucinating, there is little evidence that sheer idiocy like this would have existed in the first place." The nurse said in monotone. She turned around and cooly walked away.

"Wait! Miss! I-I have bread!" Sakamoto held out a French baguette.

"STOP BRIBING ME WITH FOOD! And where did you hide that baguette in the first place!" _Yep, I'm obviously losing my mind._ "Captain, are you actually seeing this?" She asked numbly.

"Tie the baguette in my scarf and I'll pull it out when you say yes okay?" Kamui said, still kneeling on top of the hole.

_Pirate!_

"Okay!" Sakamoto chirped from the bottom of the shallow hole. Chiaki fought the urge to hop inside the ditch and start beating him until sense comes out.

She watched from the sidelines as the Captain bent down and pulled the scarf up.

Sakamoto popped up from the hole, his hand was tied in the scarf.

"Oops, I accidentally tied my hand instead."

"Where is the bread?" Kamui asked.

There was silence, Sakamoto was hanging from the mouth of the hole, his two hands supporting him up, he took his lighter and lit the space where he stood. The bread was sitting on the dirt floor, minding its own business, when the same fucking snake from earlier slid and swallowed it whole.

"Aha-ha-ha-ha, that snake looks really hungry!"

Kamui kicked Sakamoto in the face; he rolled back and fell face first on the dirt ground.

"Go die."

The Captain took the makeshift umbrella and started shoving dirt into the hole, clearly wanting to bury the man alive.

Sakamoto popped out from the hole again, he jumped and hung himself up.

"I have wasabi!"

He pocketed his right hand and took a tube of bright green wasabi.

Kamui, still crouched in front of him, took the tube of spiciness and poured it all to the man's head.

It was a weird sight, Kamui was deathly serious while the human was saying, aha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha really loudly.

_"__Wait a second" _Chiaki thought, that man was human!

Once Kamui was satisfied with the hellish torture he did with wasabi, Chiaki went to help the man. She was initially fearful to interrupt while the Captain was busy, she felt like she was going to be the next victim if she did. Minutes later, she helped Sakamoto out of the pit. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was muttering something incoherent, loudly, about how he will never approach a wasabi tube ever again. She led Sakamoto near the entrance of the cave. He said he wasn't thirsty, and wasn't hungry either. So it was all good. She eyed Kamui who was sulking by the corner.

"I'm Chiaki." She said shaking the tall man's arm.

"And who is your boyfriend over there?" He pointed at Kamui. The Captain smiled and faced her, he smiled eerily. Chiaki shivered.

"He's not my boyfriend….. Just call him 'Captain'." She figured it might be a bad idea to say his name. Kamui might be, no_ is_ a wanted man, judging by his position in the Harusame, it might cause trouble to spread his name around.

"Ah! I see, Ahaha, so, nice to meet you again, I am Sakamoto Tatsuma, Chiaki-san, Wasabi-san."

_You're gonna get yourself killed!_

"Captain, give me your flask please." Chiaki said. She refilled his empty bottle the one fourth of what she had. This time, she made sure to make it clear that he shouldn't finish the drink in one go. Even as he drank, she reminded him. She knew that she was being unfair to herself by giving him another share of her drink, but she wanted to _better_ than him in some way. It was impossible for her to beat him in strength, but the idea of her besting him in personality made her feel a little better about the situation.

"Well! Let's begin to introduce ourselves! Aha-ha-ha-ha!" Sakamoto gave a thumbs up and smiled wide. "I want to know your likes and dislikes, your dreams in the future and things like that." He continued.

Chiaki pursed her lips, what he said sounded suspiciously familiar, like it came from an anime, came from Naruto.

"Hey! Don't start quoting things from other anime!"

"Okay, since the both of you are shy, my name is Sakamoto Tatsuma! I like ships! What I dislike is…" he shivered and paled, "is wasabi…" he bent down and clutched his stomach in pain, my dream! I have a dream, a dream of a day where amanto and people from earth can walk together in peace." He bowed down and smiled.

Kamui threw a rock at him. The rock whizzed through the air and scraped of the skin of Sakamoto's scalp. He started laughing and blood oozed from the wound to his face.

"My name is, Wasabi Captain." Kamui said. "I like fighting strong people, I dislike crybabies, weak people, killing women and children, and every time Abuto nags my ear off about not getting laid for months. My dream… I can't really call it a dream, but my ambition is… to kill certain men."

_You're totally ripping off that emo character in Naruto! Your name isn't Wasabi dammit!_

"Good job!" Sakamoto gave him a thumbs up.

"You're turn, human nurse-san."

"My name is Chiaki Sugiyama, I like coffee, reading, and my cat, orange-san, though, he's probably died of starvation, I don't like armpit stains of white clothes, really bulky men are disgusting, I also don't like to study medicine.….. My dream is to live until thirty five, thirty five sounds like a good age to die; I don't want to experience all that midlife crisis."

"My introduction was way cooler than yours." Kamui said.

Chiaki pretended to be in front of a really neat desk then flipped it off to his direction. She went to Sakamoto to inspect his injuries when he brightened up and said.

"I almost forgot! I absolutely love this panic button Mutsu put in my vest in case I fall off my ship, land in a particularly dark hole and get lost in a dead planet alone with no provisions at all, so she can find me and rescue me! aha-ha-ha."

"DID YOU PRESS THE BUTTON?"

"Well."

"Press it! JESUS!"

Sakamoto pressed the button.

"Eh, nothing happened." He said, pressing it again and again.

Then, there was painfully hot gust of wind that blew out from the mouth of the cave; there was a sharp sound of a plane, or a ship land and Chiaki could hear the sound of men speak in loud voices.

She took a glance at Kamui and wasn't surprised when his idiotic smile was still plastered to his face like it was his default feature.

"Mutsu!" Sakamoto yelled and ran to a stoic woman with a sedge hat. The man had a river of tears flowing from his eyes.

Mutsu kicked him in the face and dragged him up by the hair. "We've been waiting for you to push that button, for three days now!" She scolded him. He laughed awkwardly and reached up to hug her. To Chiaki's surprise, Mutsu stomped at his face.

"A warm welcome as always Mutsu!" Sakamoto said, his face bleeding red.

"These are my companions of this soul changing adventure, Sugiyama-san and Wasabi-san."

"It's just Chiaki." She said grinning awkwardly.

Mutsu discerned them both with slight concern, she started at Kamui for the longest time. "The ship is much more comfortable than this cave, don't you think" She gave them a small smile and dragged a Sakamoto by the ear.

* * *

><p>"More please." Kamui pushed his industrial sized bowl of rice in front of him. Sakamoto's crewmen gaped in shock. It was the fourteenth bowl and Kamui was still asking for another one. He drank two drums worth of drinking water when he first took a step into the ship. Chiaki all but drank four full glasses before she felt like puking. A man in a chef's uniform dumped freshly cooked rice into his bowl and Kamui happily dug in. He looked at Chiaki her smaller bowl, indicating if she wanted more, she shook her head.<p>

"So, what are you two, lovebirds, doing down there in the first place?" Sakamoto asked.

"Uhh…" _How do you say, "We accidentally fell off a pirate ship." Without sounding weird._

"We accidentally fell off pirate ship." Kamui said between bites.

"Wait for the rice to cool before you eat!" Chiaki said. The rice was steaming hot, but Kamui must have asbestos mouth because he completely ignored her and munched faster.

"You escaped from pirates I see." Sakamoto rubbed his chin. "Are you sure you don't need our help?"

"No, this is too much help in the first place, you see." Chiaki gave him a smile. "We just need to reach the nearest city, the one with the Terminal, and everything will be okay."

He seemed to consider what she said. "Alright! Never forget me!" He said. He gave her a calling card and barked a few orders to his men whom saluted and ran around like a pack of animals.

Chiaki watched in awe. It was still hard to believe that he was the Captain of the ship.

The entire ride was uneventful, it was barely half an hour's travel of Sakamoto happily describing his business relations in which she tried to listen politely to. She found it interesting, but Kamui was walking behind them, eyeing the humans. She was nervous that he will start a random murderous rampage.

When it was time to leave, Sakamoto cried and hugged both of their torsos. Crying that he might not see them again and their adventure was very life changing. His vice-captain, Mutsu, stood behind him. She gave them a nod, and after a few minutes, she dragged a sobbing Sakamoto back and their ship flew off. His idiotic laughter echoed in the wind.

Chiaki felt like crying herself.

Back in Sakamoto's ship, Mutsu hit him in the head angrily.

"You idiot!" She said. "That was Kamui! Leader of the seventh division of the Harusame, I don't care what negotiations you did-"

"Eh, I didn't know." Sakamoto said rubbing his sore head.

"I only invited them because you begged me!"

"Well, he did try to bury me alive, aha-ha-ha-ha-ha"

Mutsu sighed and smacked him another good one.

"Just, be more careful next time."

"Hai!"

She rolled her eyes, _yeah right._

* * *

><p>The Terminal was more of a harbor, ships lined up beside each other on water that was in oily brown in comparison to the earth's oceans. It smelled like rain on dry pavement, it was still hot but manageable. There were structures like housing built crammed on hills and busy merchants parading with their cargoes.<p>

It felt better than being in the middle of nowhere.

"Here." She said, giving Kamui a sedge hat. "I asked Mutsu-san if she had more of her hats, since you left your umbrella back in the ship." She smiled.

Kamui took the grass hat and shoved it on top of Chiaki's head. "I don't need it." He said.

"Don't give me that crap! You were hallucinating from the heat hours ago! Fired or not, I'm still an _almost_ nurse, and I have to try help people as much as possible." She lifted the hat from her head and was about to give it to Kamui when he stubbornly secured it into her head. He honestly didn't remember telling her that she was fired. His grin faltered. Chiaki stared at him incredulously.

"…Why aren't you smiling? What's with that face?" She asked, hands still holding the rim of the hat.

"The ship's right there, stupid." Kamui said, but he was smiling again. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her behind. She felt a little off balance and wobbled, still clutching on the sun hat. The Harusame ship was very impressive, pirate ship or not. It stood bigger than most ships; it was grander and stronger than the rest.

"Oh." Her face brightened up. There was a truce.

"Captain?" Whatever moment of peace Chiaki felt at that moment was shattered. Standing behind the both of them was none other than Abuto, gaping like a fish out of water. His skin was flushed from the sun; he balanced an umbrella with his shoulder and held a brown chicken at his remaining arm, looking like a ruffian more than ever, even with the clucking hen.

Kamui was not happy.

"Ch-Chiaki!" He paled when he saw her. He had not considered her surviving, he was ashamed.

Chiaki was not amused at all.

"Abuto." Kamui said dangerously low, "you're late, _again_" _I could have embarrassed myself further you bastard._

Abuto huffed. "I would have gotten the both of you really early if you didn't walk around!" he accused his Captain. "I told you the last time that you fell off the balcony to stay put!" The hen flapped its wings in panic. Abuto was moving around too fast.

"No, you told me to go to the nearest terminal" _You piece of shit; I should have killed you back in Yoshiwara! _He thought.

Chiaki raised her eyebrow from the background. So it did happen more than once, and right when she was going to apologize for putting them in such a hopeless situation in the first place. It turned out that she really didn't have to.

"No, I told you –wait really?" Abuto mused.

That's why Kamui swiped at his feet. Abuto fell heavily on the floor, he let go of the items he was holding –the hen ran away, but Chiaki caught it.

Kamui was delighted.

The sadist grabbed a hold of Abuto's foot and threw him at the polluted sea.

Chiaki could hear Abuto screech and swim to shore. Screaming gross and ewww as the murky waters soaked him. He climbed up the wooden walkways and Kamui kicked him again to drown. Abuto cursed and angrily swam to a distance where Kamui can't get him.

The nurse shook her head in disapproval and wished that she could have kicked him a little too, when she had a chance, but there were pressing matters to be discussed.

"Captain, I believe this is goodbye then." She said, handing him the hen.

"What are you talking about."

"You fired me, remember…. I think I have enough cash from the monthly salaries I have received from Abuto-san to go home from earth. I'll collect my belongings and leave now.."

"How much do you have?" He said, crossing his arms.

"One fourth of a million" She said.

"That's not enough." Kamui commented.

"It just has to do." She said, _I'm not asking for a loan, I know how you freaking pirates work…_

"I'll drop you off the next time we visit Earth."

"But–"

"That's _final_ Chiaki" Kamui smacked her in the head and made a gesture to follow him back to the ship, still holding the hen.

"Uhhh, okay… yes, thanks," She rubbed the spot and followed.

* * *

><p>Authors note:<p>

I BROKE MY ARM SO IT'S BEEN HARD TO TYPE! I mean it, having a broken arm is inconvenient with typing…

Still though…

KAMUI CALLED HER BY HER FIRST NAME! For the first time Yeah! Development!

I know, I know, I suck at this but come on! I'm not very proud of this, but it's still…. Beautiful.

Sorry for any possible grammar mistakes. Please notify me if there are some. :D


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**

I don't think I'm being a good Author to you people. Are Author's supposed to reply on reviews. If so, then I feel like it is my duty to apologize. If not, then please deem it as overreaction. I seriously didn't know.

Just to clear things up with ahsoei-san there is no connection between the desert planet in Gintama (the place where the Yorozuya and Sakamoto-san got stranded)

To clear things up with everyone: This fan fiction happens after the Yoshiwara arc. Well, Chapter one started just after the arc ended.

I also want to say that this is my longest chapter yet. (confetti! It's a parade!) And that I will try not to make my Chapters too long if you readers don't like long ass chapters. (please say so) I also feel bad for you who have to put up with my bad grammar. I try but every time I read other fanfics. I feel like my engurishu is so bad...

Also that I might not be able to update as fast as I update after this update. Starting tomorrow will be super busy for me, SUPER busy. I have only one day a week as a holiday and classes from seven am to five am at almost everyday. It's a pain but I will force myself awake at night to continue typing. I pledge to thee that I shall never quit unless I see Chiaki-san and Kamui-san finally realizing how much of fools they are and that making babies is the best option for stress relief. I am jesting.

I love you all. I mean it.

I do not own Gintama.

Please enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Aiko's Office:<strong>

"Chi-a-ki-chaannnn~3" Aiko wriggled his body, his muscles bulged dangerously from the tight fitting outfit he wore. He pulled the measuring tape from her waist and frowned. "You've gotten thinner." He said, rubbing his chin.

"The clothes I got for you might not fit as much as I wanted them too."

Chiaki brightened up instantly.

"You got clothes for me?" She repeated, trying hard no to smile as much as she was smiling at that moment. This was something, she thought. She had been wearing the same outfit every day, switching only when it becomes dirty to another similar looking outfit. Too many nights have she locked herself in her small bathroom, wearing nothing but her undergarments, waiting patiently for her clothes to dry.

"Of course dear, but Abuto tore the earlier ones I made, he said they, and I quote, 'look like shit.'" He frowned miserably. It was strange to see a bigger and buffer man like Aiko, compared to Abuto, sulk at something Abuto had said. Chiaki gave a hesitant smile and patted the back of the muscled man. "I'm sure Abuto-san just doesn't have the same taste as you do."

"But of course." Aiko wiped a few tears coming from his eyes.

Shivers spiraled down Chiaki's back. It was hard to not like Aiko, he was likeable to her. He was kinder than all of the Yato she had met, but sometimes, he unnerved her.

Aiko bent down and opened a chest from his left. He pulled out several articles of clothing. Chiaki was glad to see that they were mostly plain and not as flashy as she originally imagined they would be. There were mostly white, the others were closely neon, some had ruffles. She ended up trying to balance a pile in her arms.

"Oh, and here." Aiko said, taking the pile from her arms. He laid out a lab coat; it was thicker than ones Chiaki had used in her laboratory classes. "I want you to wear this every day!" He crooned, giving her three pairs. "It's a lab coat." She said, touching the soft fabric.

"Yes! So ever body will know that you are the sciencey type."

"But, I'm a nurse, not a scientist."

"Nonsense!" Aiko blew her a gay kiss that she failed to dodge. "It will look great, plus it's warmer."

Chiaki dropped the coat and embraced the okama in a crushing hug

**Harusame Canteen/Dining hall:**

_Ugghhh, this bread looks staler than ever. _Chiaki thought as she pulled out a croissant.

There was a slight buzzing sound from the bread basket.

Chiaki scrunched her eyebrows in curiosity as she moved aside another croissant. There were insect legs from under the bread, scurrying in a rush. The head of a large beetle, nay, a cockroach popped up and flew above the nurse's head. Normally, she would have screamed, but the lack of energy and constant surprises she had on the ship morphed her fear of cockroaches into nothing more than a lump of indifference.

The roach flew in random directions before settling on Abuto's ass, buzzing like a fly as the owner of the said ass laughed at a random joke of his colleagues, then jumping to punch his colleague because the joke was about having a one arm.

Nobody noticed it, aside from the nurse, but when Abuto finally sat on his chair. The cockroach got squished. She shivered involuntarily as the sound of exoskeleton crushing on the weight of the Vice Captain echoed in her mind.

"Oh, damn! I forgot my diet cola." Abuto stood up and went to the direction of the freezers when someone from behind him let out a lady like scream.

He turned around and followed the screaming man's accusing finger, pointing at his butt. He himself jumped in shock as a mosaic or a brown censor was stuck in between his butt cheeks.

Chiaki face palmed and tried to walk subtly out of the room.

Abuto flipped the bird on those who baselessly accused him of carelessly staining his pants while he was doing his business, not wiping, or the worst, accidentally taking a shat in public. A brown mosaic could be anything! Abuto said to all, nobody believed him. The Vice Captain angrily flicked the dead roach away from his butt. Unfortunately, his aim, due to panic, was very much terrible. The roach flew at a random crew man's mashed potatoes, who in a fit of horror swiped the plate of food. The plate of potatoes, which was surprisingly steaming hot slammed into Aiko's face, ruining his hours' worth of beautifying effort. Aiko crashed into Kamui's dining place, -which he liked not littered with comrades KO'd with hot food-.

Kamui paused eating. The dining hall was hauntingly silent. He blinked, and blinked again. Because Aiko's face was too close for his comfort.

The Captain of the Harusame kicked the table. It flipped, wasting a ton load of food.

Lunch was over.

Apparently, Kamui's crew was so murder deprived that any source of chaos that they instantly used it as a reason to tear each other's limbs off. One by one Kamui's men attacked each other and fought. Chaos ensued.

Chiaki squealed as she dodged a flying body that crashed into a table beside her. She wasn't able to leave in time. She hopped over a severed arm, stole, or took two oranges from a wicker basket, before the entire table that held the oranges was reduced to splinters. Yato, while fighting didn't bother with the weak, she found out. She was practically invisible to them; it was partly good and bad, good because nobody pursued her, bad because stray knives, umbrellas, flying bodies were a pain to evade.

She was innocent, she knew she was. She tried to convince herself that the entire event was not her doing.

So when Kamui and Abuto cornered her, the former pissed that his lunch was disturbed, the latter just finding someone to blame…. Well both of them just wanted someone to blame for the mess, Kamui blamed Abuto who pointed at Chiaki.

She said, "I'm innocent" and handed them the oranges.

**Kamui's Office/ Den of Pain and Torture:**

"_Yeah, never mind…"_ Chiaki grimaced, she found Umibozu's letter on the pocket of her shirt when she wanted to wash it earlier that day. The letter that Kamui had purposefully thrown in the balcony was still with her, and she didn't know what to do with it. She thought of leaving it in his office while he was away, but she felt like he would know that it came from her, if she did so.

She frowned and fingered the edge of the envelope. She had no choice, she thought that her best option would be was to hide it with her, until the time comes that she would have figured out a plan to hand it to him, or to sneak it to him without him noticing. She didn't want to find the perfect moment while the letter was in her closet back on the clinic. It would be uncool.

Plus, Kamui looked strangely pleased that day. His feet was up, scratching his oak desk –it irked Chiaki, she would have to clean that later on– and his face was covered by a magazine with a scantily clad dark haired woman. She figured it was a bad thing to part a man from his…amusement.

Abuto also looked constipated. She asked him earlier if he wanted pills to fix his bowels, but he flipped her the bird and stormed off angrily. Now he still looked like a stuffed bird, tapping a finger at his own desk –which looked a hundred times better than her ugly one– carving an image of a, stuffed bird into it.

_I'm not gonna polish that…_ Chiaki thought, writing the last detail of a pay slip.

"_FUCK it!"_ Abuto said and headed to Chiaki. Her eyes widened in fear, in a rush of adrenaline, she kicked her chair out of the way, in case she needed space. Took her knife from her lab coat (an interesting add on Aiko had so kindly gave) and positioned on a defensive stance.

"What are you doing?" Abuto asked, halfway through, he was confused.

Chiaki blushed in embarrassment. "You're not going to attack?" She said.

"No, why would I attack you?" He crossed his arms, only to realize that he only had one arm. He grumbled in irritation.

"Sorry." She spun the knife on her right hand, aiming it to shoot down her pocket, only for it to fall down the floor in a clatter. "Sorry again" she said much to her chagrin. She picked it up from the floor only to find out that both of the Yato who was with her in the room was staring at her with slight amusement in their eyes, even Kamui, who was raising an eyebrow. Her lower lip trembled.

"What do you want" she said softly, albeit impatiently to the dirty blonde.

"Can… can you read this?" He said, handing a worn out letter to Chiaki. The letter must have been blue in color ages ago, now it was partly yellow, and damp. She opened the letter and scanned it.

"Are you sure you want me to read this?" She asked.

"Read it." Kamui said, sitting neatly on her pile of paperwork, his magazine abandoned in his table. He used her table as a sitting apparatus. Chiaki blinked, and then blinked again, twice, because Kamui's face was too close for her comfort. Even after she yelped and toppled to the floor from her chair, she could still feel her face heating up.

_Yes, it must be from utter disgust, his face looks gross right?_

Chiaki shook her head and settled on the floor.

"Dear Abuto….chan…." She paused.

Kamui chocked on thin air. He was hitting his chest with his fist, coughing loudly a few seconds later. She looked at Abuto who was beet red, he was mumbling like an idiot to his very amused captain.

"This is mama.." She felt a familiar sense of homesickness, but stomped it down. Now was not her time, she thought, it was the Vice Captain's.

"How are you son? I miss you very much. You haven't been writing to me ever since you joined that merchant group. Mama wants to say that you don't need to leave anymore to work. The hospital bills are no more. I'm fine, I'm already okay. Your mother is perfectly healthy now, thanks to you."

Chiaki swallowed, the both of them were quiet.

"I want to tell you that I miss cooking for you, are you eating well there? I don't know. I_ want _to know. I hope you're not doing that ridiculous fitness regime young folks do around here. I hope you still eat your vegetables, but I believe you do. You don't have to send most of your salary anymore, if you don't want to stop working. I know it's your dream to leave the planet. But please, son, visit sometimes, it can get awfully lonely without you talking my ear off, I miss the old days, Abuto-chan." Kamui choked again, but not as hard as earlier. "I remembered, when you were a wee baby-"

"STOP READING!" Abuto forced the paper down to the table.

"No. Human nurse-san, keep reading." Kamui said, his chin was propped on his arm.

"Well.."

"I'm the Captain,_ he_, is the Vice Captain. Listen to me."

They were both glaring at her.

"Well…." Seconds seemed to tick by. Chiaki was in a dilemma.

"Sorry Abuto-san, the Captain is right, he is the Captain. Plus I think death by his hands will be much more painful than to be murdered by you…. I'd rather not have the both of your faces as my last sight before I die though. It will be the misfortune of all misfortunes."

She continued reading. "You were such a cute baby then…."

Chiaki shut her mouth. She covered her reddening face with the letter and failed to resist laughing. They could hear her increasing guffaws from behind the paper.

"What? _WHAT?_" Kamui said, eyes wide open with curiosity. He scooted closer to her to see what the laughter was about. She quickly pressed the letter to her chest, not showing him the contents. There were tears threatening to leak from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, there are baby pictures pasted in the letter, I can't believe I didn't look at them first."

"GIVE IT TO ME!" Abuto hollered, diving for the letter. Chiaki was about to hand him the letter when Kamui's foot collided with Abuto's face.

"Give it." Kamui ordered, eyes glinting with mischief.

"Sorry, Captain, the pictures are kind of embarrassing, I don't think Abuto-san will appreciate me showing it to you."

Abuto secretly rejoiced.

"Don't let me pry them off your cold dead hands, human nurse-san." Kamui said.

She instantly handed him the letter.

Kamui stared at the pictures. His upper lip twitched, he let out a crazy smile and ripped the pictures off and hid it in his pocket. It was for future blackmail purposes, the bastard.

Chiaki almost felt sorry for Abuto, but he smacked her in the head for giving in so easily, so everything was back to neutral.

"Okay, we are approaching the end of the letter." She said.

"You have to remember Abuto, -she didn't read the '-chan' part anymore- you are always my favorite son. Out of all the others, you are the only one whom I can say, still loves me more than I do to you. Again, please visit your old mama. I love you, son."

"From… Uhh I can't read the name, it's in Yato. Sorry. But it's from your mom" Chiaki said.

"Oh, and P.S. If you bring that rude orange haired boss of yours again, I'll cook more casserole."

"That's the end of it." She handed the letter back to the Vice Captain, who snatched it and stuffed it in his lapel.

The both of them looked at Kamui expectantly, he was still wearing his closed eyed shit eating grin, but something was off, his antenna, was moving side to side, bouncing and twitching.

Chiaki gulped and found herself entranced; she hadn't really noticed that part of him before. She wanted to touch it, but she would be stupid to try, unless she wanted to lose an arm for it.

"Nah" Kamui said.

"But why?" Chiaki said softly, the letter was heartwarming for her.

"We already visited that shitty planet two years ago." He said, unamused.

Abuto was silent. Chiaki figured that maybe her convincing skills might persuade Kamui-sama of stoneful heart.

"Actually." The nurse cleared her throat. Kamui stared at her, arms crossed; he was challenging her to say something. She hoped that their little adventure down that dead planet will allow her some leeway in terms of talking to the Captain. "There had been a running petition entitled, 'We Want To Go Home, For A Week, Or Even Only Three Days' their spelling was a bit off, but they already have more than four hundred signatures." She said on a diplomatic tone, or tried to be diplomatic as much as possible. It was hard to concentrate when Abuto was signaling, 'no' and 'shut up' with one arm, it looked absolutely ridiculous.

"Did you sign?" Kamui said, blue eyes boring into her soul.

"They did threaten to disembowel me, so I did." She said sheepishly.

Kamui went to his chair and sat, thinking about the matter.

"I also need a new arm." Abuto mused. "Well, a _lot_ of us need new limbs, did you see Sato? He was missing an arm and a foot, we can only get that in our planet. It's only a day's travel anyway."

Judging by Abuto's irritated look, he wasn't finished talking yet when Aiko slammed the door open. He was distraught.

"Captain!" Aiko's voice was higher than usual. He was pouting. "There's a rebellion going on! On the third floor balcony" he said.

Kamui, eyes calm, stood up the ends of his uniform coat flapped cooly in the wind. Something Chiaki admired. There wasn't even wind in the office, and yet he marched so epically, including Abuto who walked beside him. _Damn, that's badass_. It almost felt like they were in a movie.

"Are you coming?" Kamui's head popped from the edge of the door.

Chiaki raised an eyebrow. They normally left her alone. She followed.

The nurse felt a bit dismayed. It felt like a punishment from the gods. The three of them, high ranking officials, walking in front of her, walked mint fresh, pristine and perfect in their serious movements towards the balcony. She tripped over her own foot once, stubbed her toe on inconspicuous iron flooring that jutted out from its proper position twice and stepped on her own lab gown while climbing up from a rather embarrassing fall.

She followed them and saw the balcony's door.

_Third floor balcony, we meet again you son of a-_

Aiko pressed a rather large button with her right hand. The door made a sound and unlocked. Strange, Chiaki thought, she remembered pushing the door open with her hands, they must have made improvements.

The noise was deafening. Kamui and the other three stood on top of a staircase, below it was the fateful balcony where she fell with the Captain, the space was filled with rebelling Yato, they had posters and signs filled with mismatched drawings and demands that they wanted to go home even for a small time.

_Strange timing_ Chiaki thought, rubbing her chin.

A purple haired younger Yato, with a braid and the usual uniform stood defiantly in front of the Captain. He was young and inexperienced, the kind of bastard that would strike mutinies and would sue owners for maltreatment, the same kind of annoying type of lads you watch in horror films that's too noisy and ultimately kill everyone. He was doing this for his fellow clansmen though; he tried to convince himself, for the greater good.

He bowed down elegantly to his smiling Captain.

"KAMUI-SAMA KAMUI-SAMA KAMUI-SAMA" His crew chanted it like a mantra.

Kamui silenced it with a hand gesture.

Purple hair looked up from his bowing position. "Captain" he said, voice, serious, intention diplomatic.

"With all due respect sir, we, your men-" Kamui wasn't listening, he crouched and swiped his foot at the bowing man, the man's body flew off the staircase, down the balcony where it landed in a painful thud. There was a dent in the floor.

"Starting a coup d'état eh?" Kamui smiled dangerously.

The body groaned and rolled over to the side. His face was bleeding. The rest of the crew was silent. You could hear an umbrella drop.

"No, Captain, we just have a request tha-"

Kamui jumped from the staircase and landed into the leader's stomach. Blood spurted out from his mouth. Chiaki held down a gasp.

"Don't worry, he'll live, they always do." Abuto muttered, he positioned himself ready to jump down and assist his Captain in case things got too wild.

"Captain!" Kamui stomped on the impudent fool's skull, crushing it with his foot. The man gasped and held Kamui's foot, trying to ease the pressure.

Aiko and Abuto's constant reminder that the poor man will live was the only thing stopping Chiaki from screaming to the Captain to stop. She didn't know how the Yato ruled. Chiaki stopped shaking_, eh_, she thought, if she screamed stop, Kamui might twist into her direction and start shooting her to death for interrupting.

"Kamui-sama!" A man from the rallying group said out loud. The Captain took it as a cue, he bent down a little then spiraled to the group, with his umbrella leading the destruction. Soon, all Chiaki could see was flying bodies and the blur of black and greys crashing to each other, occasionally there would be a body thrown upwards, aimed for the void of space. Only to be stopped by a seemingly invisible barrier that allowed the balcony to have gravity, sound and oxygen. She was alone too, as soon as the Captain charged, his loyal followers, Abuto and Aiko spun into action.

She rushed to the clinic, and took her medical box and supplies, it was on top speed.

She went back to balcony, items in hand, they were still fighting.

Then the fighting stopped, it must have took more than ten minutes. Beat up bodies were littered on the floor, teeth, hair, tattered clothing and limbs were scattered randomly.

Kamui sat on a dog pile of corpses, or unconscious people, grinning with satisfaction.

Abuto was standing somewhere, bloodied up, he smacked someone who moved.

Aiko was prancing around like a madman.

The Captain stood on top of the pile and announced, "I'll give you all five days, Aiko, change the course to our shit planet." He grinned.

Kamui was happy.

Abuto grinned as well and high fived Aiko who skipped inside.

Later, she one by one patched up very _happy _crew members, sewing their stumps and re positioned their bones –it took her four hours to finish everything–. She finished all her supplies, for the other less fortunate ones, she used their clothes for bandages and instructed them ways on how to prevent infection. They invited her in the celebration they will be holding that night, they finally called her nurse, instead of 'the captain's concubine' or 'that pink haired weirdo that steals food from the canteen' or even 'the one that delivers the mail to our rooms.'

It must be the lab gown.

After that she went to Kamui and curiously asked,

"Does this happen every time your crew wants to go somewhere?"

Kamui threw her his bloodied uniform; the stains will be difficult to remove.

He was in his office re-braiding his hair; he looked fresh, just out of the shower, while Chiaki could be mistaken as an urchin.

"What are you babbling about? I was super considerate this time." He tied an elastic to the end of his braid.

"Ah…. Got it." She gave him a thumbs up.

"Oh, and also, I want that uniform here in a few hours."

"Yes, Captain." She saluted and walked away. _I'm his maid now too? Great? Just great.._

* * *

><p><strong>Planet of the Yato:<strong>

The entire planet was smaller than earth. Its atmosphere was covered in thick fat clouds, suffocating the sky with its shadows. It was cold too, colder than the ship, and damp, the kind of damp that seemed to clog ones chest and hurt ones joints. It was awfully windy and quiet.

When the Harusame ships landed on the small ball of earth, Chiaki could see the excitement in her fellow colleagues' faces. She then remembered that she was fired. So, she saw the excitement in the faces of her kidnapper's goons. But colleagues sound better don't you think? Only when the Captain's presence was evident did the uproar of good mood and excitement wash down the drain. They wanted to show him that they were tough as nails, that the idea of seeing their children or their mommies was not manly enough to be considered exciting. Chiaki thought it was utter bull.

Even Abuto was in high spirits that day when he walked past her; he beamed and slapped a heavy hand down her back. She smiled back at him. When he left, she doubled over and vomited. His 'friendly pat' was unconsciously something more akin to 'the pat of death' it was strong enough to bring the contents of her stomach out.

Kamui was strangely tamed. She once poked her head in his office and asked if there was any paperwork she could do. He shooed her away via, sitting on his boss chair and waving his hand as an indication to get the hell off.

In the first two days, the ship was empty.

Chiaki was bored, she had no one to bug.

She tried giving the letter back to Kamui, the letter she knew that came from his father. Thanks to Abuto who was always an open mouthed fellow when it comes to the dirty secrets that involved his fine Captain. After having informed, she found keeping the letter a responsibility far too heavy for her. But she was a coward. She was content on memorizing the wax seal instead. It had the words Umibozu etched around it, and strangely, a face of an older man with a Hitler moustache, goggles and a leather cap covering his head. She found it a gross thing to use as a seal.

That afternoon, she snuck into the dining hall to eat a pineapple and sat at the back entrance of the ship.

She felt a little lonely, sitting on the cold metal floor, avoiding the drizzle; she picked up a wooden stick and engraved words on the damp ground.

She heard someone sneak behind her.

"What does that word say, the one above all the others?" Kamui asked politely.

"That one says, 'Yato'"

"How about that one? Beside Abuto's name."

"Oh.. it means… ugly."

"The one beside my name?"

"Super cool Captain." She didn't lie, she really wrote that just in case.

Kamui grinned, he was pleased.

"Can you cook?" he asked her, she turned to look at him and flinched in shock. He was wearing his usual garments, minus his Harusame Captain coat. There were bandages all over his face and body, his umbrella was perched on his shoulder.

"Is that where my missing bandages went to?" She pointed at his face.

Kamui smiled, "maybe." She squinted and scratched the word 'super' beside his name in the dirt. "I could have used that for other people's injuries you know! Your men may be dying right now from infection." She accused him.

The Captain snorted, "Let them die, there's too many of them anyway."

She gaped at him incredulously.

_At least he isn't threatening me…_ Chiaki thought.

"You haven't answered my question yet." He said watching her like a hawk.

"I can make good dumplings" She smiled at him and shrugged.

Kamui grabbed her by her left arm and heaved her up without warning. She stepped on her own foot and wobbled for balance. She shot him a glare for the sudden interruption.

"Follow me." He opened his umbrella and walked under the rain. Chiaki was left in the entrance with a confused expression. "Wait a second! I should get an umbrella too." The rain wasn't that strong, but she didn't want to get sick. When Kamui didn't give an indication of waiting for her, she muttered a curse and used her lab gown as a shield against the rain. She could only hope that the stormy clouds didn't indicate a heavier down pour.

She didn't expect the planet to be _that_ similar to her hometown. The buildings were closely built to each other, like cans stacked in a supermarket. The buildings were Chinese inspired, there were even Chinese traditional clothing hanging from under roofs to dry.

It was beautiful, except, Chiaki was in a sour mood.

It was freezing and her pants were soaking, there were grass stains and dirt on its ends. The rain was getting stronger too. What's more was there were people, or Yato who could see Kamui _whispered_ and pointed at him like he was some damn movie star or something –it was a miracle they knew who he was under all those bandages, if she was one of them, she would have screamed ghost and hid–. She was with him, so some of the fingers were directed at her. She didn't like it.

Her feet were wet, there was one time that she stepped on a giant earthworm, she screamed and ran forward.

It didn't help that he looked amused.

When the rain poured harder, Kamui took an umbrella from an umbrella rack in some person's house and gave it to her.

She beamed and forgot about the earthworms, which was bad, because when they arrived, the soles of her sandals had worm guts all over it.

She grimaced and tried to clean her shoes on a puddle while Kamui used a rusted key to open the lock of a small empty two story house. He quit after a few seconds and karate chopped it, the lock fell into the floor with a noisy clang. They walked for half an hour into an abandoned looking side of town before he finally found the house. She had asked him why was it that there was nobody around, and he responded with 'everybody who lived in this area died already.'

_Who are you and _ "Where have you taken me"_ You damn bastard. _She secretly wanted to say this movie line for years already. It didn't matter that she said only half of it. All was well.

Kamui didn't answer her question. He removed the bandages of his face and muttered in a low voice. He most likely thought that she didn't hear him at all. But she did. In that brief moment where he looked down and said, "Mama, I'm home" and opened the door. Chiaki felt her heart crush into pieces. She was angry, how dare he, she was supposed to_ hate_ him. She was supposed to loathe the man for stealing away everything that she worked hard for.

Chiaki felt herself tremble.

Now she couldn't stay angry at him.

She cursed herself for having a soft heart and stayed in the rain.

_It probably wasn't his fault that he is a pirate!... Dammit it sounds wrong, ah fuck._

"Chiaki!" Kamui said from inside the house. She wiped her face in her sleeve and went inside.

She coughed and fanned the dust out of her face.

Kamui was crouched on the stove, he tried to open it, it didn't. He checked under the stove and followed the plastic tube that connected it to a gas tank. He fumbled with it then tried again, he opened the stove twice and finally, there was fire. He went to the cabinets and started searching for something edible.

She watched him patiently then resisted hitting her head on the opposite wall.

"Why did you bring me here?" She said.

"Well, Aiko isn't in the ship, so only his assistants cook my food…. It all tastes like shit." He opened a cupboard and frowned when he saw cracked bowls in it. "I'm tired of their bad cooking so I got you here to cook."

"Why didn't you just ask me to cook in the ship's kitchen?" She raised her hands in frustration. She had thought that this would be something emotional. But it turns out that Kamui was just being on his weird side.

"…." He stared at her as if she had said something life changing, but his Yato side would rather throw itself into a pit of fluffy teddies, rainbows and pink sugar cubes than show it.

"There is a market west of here." He shoved her a bag of coins, "get what you need, be back in an hour." Kamui pushed her out of the house, into the pouring rain. Chiaki grumbled and took her brown umbrella. She walked forward and stopped.

"Which way is west again?" She called out from outside.

Kamui opened a window and stared at her. "You're facing it."

* * *

><p>The market was merely houses with higher economic capabilities. Outside each houses were open stalls with people purchasing things from eggs to bear traps. It should have been a breeze of a job if people didn't stare at her and grouped her with Kamui. There were some stalls that shunned her, asked her to leave when she approached, and there were others who wanted to sell their merchandise for free. She avoided them both, she had paranoia that the free items might be poisoned or something. Even if the planet rained nonstop, news spread faster than wild fire.<p>

One particular moment when she was picking mushrooms the girl behind the stall smiled at her, it was the kind of dangerous smile she would have rather avoided, she had no choice though.

"Ola." She said putting down a particular mushroom.

"So, is he big?" She asked Chiaki, the nurse's eyes widened.

"Uhh… who is 'he'?" _Please mistake me for somebody else, please mistake me for somebody else, PLEASE_

"Umibozu's son, Komui" She said, leaning for information.

"It's Kamui-sama." Chiaki corrected her.

"_Oooh!_ So, he's into BDSM huh?" the lady's eyes glinted.

"Just the S part… I think." She couldn't imagine him submitting to anyone. Chiaki purchased the mushrooms and ran to the next stall.

She was delighted to find a stall that sold ready-made dough sheets for dumplings. The old man that managed the shop beamed at her. He happily muttered something about good genetics finally spreading out.

"Yeah…" She ignored all their assumptions that they were, living and making babies together. She denied it at the first few stalls, but she finally gave up, seeing that they weren't listening to her. "He's pretty tough. Ahhhaha." She said awkwardly.

"Like his father." The man groaned and stroked his beard thoughtfully.

She looked up at him with a curious face. The only thing she knew about Umibozu was the fact that he and Kamui despised each other, according to Abuto. She knew he was strong, if not, equally stronger than Kamui himself.

" –ripped off his arm really bad." The man said. Chiaki woke from her trance.

"Ripped his arm off?" She repeated.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Apparently the man had been talking about Kamui's father. "Kamui, when he was still under the King, went to his father to kill him, he only managed to tear the great Umibozu's arm off before the man almost killed his son. Kamui was spared, but the father avoided seeing the son after that."

She bit her lip.

"Oh no!" The old man wiped his hands with a white cloth; he put the dough in a plastic. "I don't know what race you are, dear, but we had a tradition long ago that sons should kill their fathers to surpass them. I'm glad they took it away, or I'd have to fight Shiro here when he gets older." He laughed and patted his son's head, who was no more than three years old.

She thanked the man and headed back to Kamui's house. Their stories lingered in her head like pests. Her load seemed heavier too.

She walked back to the home base as the sky got darker. It had stopped raining and she removed her umbrella. She arrived seeing an unamused Kamui on the doorway.

"What?" She asked, pulling the groceries higher.

"You were gone for an hour and ten minutes." He frowned disapprovingly. She threw him his bag of money, which he caught with one hand.

_Well, the stuff is heavy and I tripped a few times and ruined my clothes._ "Sorry, my watch is broken." _It's your fault in the first place that it broke so please…._

He smiled creepily and moved aside to let her in, eyes never failing to put her on the edge.

Minutes later and she was shaping the dumplings into shells.

"You want to help?" It was fairly easy for her to make fifty pieces but it felt awkward with him just sitting there and staring.

Kamui nodded, and followed her movements. He made crappy dumplings.

"Okay, never mind. Don't help" She stood up from the dingy table and took several peaches from the bags she brought.

"Did I tell you to buy fruits?" Kamui wasn't fond of peaches.

"Well, seeing as you're starving to death and it will take me time to finish everything, you should be glad that I even got fruits." She said, smug, and a bit tired, like she had read to the end of the book and he was just starting.

She busied herself, constantly watching Kamui who pranced around the small space. When it was dark, he took matches and lit candles. He placed them in windowsills. The place around them was deserted. There was no power. She frowned as she remembered her visit to the market. They didn't seem to rely on electricity to get things going.

They ate in silence. Kamui disappeared when she started washing the dishes. When she was nearly done. She heard him call her from the second floor, which was connected to the first by a wooden ladder nailed on the wall that could have collapsed at any second now.

"Your bedroom?" She asked, there were faded pictures of him on the wall. His hair was black and he grinned like an idiot on all of the photos. One was him standing over a tough looking character, with his foot on his head, posed in a prideful manner. There was an old creep at the background with long straight hair, a pinched face wearing a plain gray outfit.

"Who's this old man?" She said out loud.

Kamui was struggling to open a window. He gave up and kicked it loose, the glass broke into pieces and the rest of the structure fell on the street beside it.

"That's the King of the Night."

"Oh.." She let go of the picture.

There were other pictures of him, one was him behind a fountain of blood, and the other was him bickering with a younger lady, who looked exactly like him.

She frowned and looked back; he hopped over the broken glass and laid down on the roof that covered the first floor. He looked at the cloudy sky, as if stargazing. There were giant fluffs of dark thunderous clouds scattered around the sky. In smaller spaces, where the clouds are thinner, if she focused hard enough, she could see a bajillion stars twinkling. Like they're fighting for space in the universe.

Chiaki grinned broadly.

She wanted to go to the roof too. But she wasn't as cool as he was who's able to jump on windows with broken glass protruding dangerously on the edges. She settled on leaning to see the sky, mindful of the sharp glass.

Kamui laid for minutes, he didn't seem to want to say something, let alone did he want her leaning and craning her neck in the background.

Chiaki decided to amuse herself in his childhood pictures instead when he spoke,

"Chiaki" he said. The nurse hummed from the background to indicate that she was listening when she choked on her own spit; she just realized that he had called her by her first name, which she didn't notice before. She wondered how long has he been calling her that. She also realized how awfully stuffy the room was and that it was an equally awful cliché moment that she wanted to get out from. She felt like it was a punishment from the love gods. She should have dated more in college to know how things led into much more confusing things. But noooo, she wanted to study.

"Did you feel stronger away from your family?" Kamui's eyes didn't leave the cloudy sky.

Chiaki felt like dying. Was he… was he starting to feel guilty now? Her stomach lurched in reaction. She felt a surge of warmth in her tummy. She flailed around in the room wildly, racking her brain for something to say that won't lead him to smack her or ridicule her.

"Yes." She said in a plain voice. But her insides were in a mess from panic

"I'm right then.." Kamui looked back, the instant his head craned to see her. She stood unmoving, like she was standing there calm, all along.

"Family only pulls you down." He looked back into the sky again. Chiaki finally breathed in, she didn't realize she was holding her breath. She punched her heart to calm it down.

_Nonono… mind out of the gutter! Mind out of the gutter!_

"Then, you're guilty of pulling me down too."_ into accidentally imagining my life with you! That's totally gross! Please say something annoying that will be an instant turn off! Do it! Say something like, 'you are weak and pathetic!' this is not good! Mayday mayday!_ She said then stomped on her own foot.

He looked at her with mild amusement.

"Guilty of pulling me down…. Because.. family isn't limited by blood." She explained slowly.

"Now don't get angry when I tell this to you, but to be stuck with you lot for four months puts a few tweaks in the list of who my family is…Like, the doctor that I worked for, he's like my real dad. Abuto-san is like that uncle that when invited to parties tries to be funny but ends up embarrassing you, so I'd hide from him…. Aiko….-chan is like that uncle or maybe an aunt that pinches my cheek so hard during visits so I'd hide from him.. her.. it.. too." She smiled. "And you're like that annoying neighbor who lives parallel to my room's window that would catch me dancing wildly in my 'me time' then video the entire act and make it viral on the internet."

Kamui stared at her incredulously like she had grown two heads. He was surprised to be included on her list too.

"And your real parents?" He asked.

"They're my other neighbor….They had it coming. I barely see them, and all they do is boss me around." She said.

"Do you still miss them?" Kamui inquired, one eyebrow higher than the other.

Chiaki looked away. He remembered her conversation with Abuto.

"No." She said frowning. "Not really." She shivered involuntarily and rubbed her arms for warmth. Her fingers were freezing, her toes too.

"I've been thinking about them lately though." She bit her lip. "I think they gave up on looking for me already. There's probably an empty grave with my name on it back in Edo." She knew her parents. She knew this would happen.

"Ever since I started working under you, I can't appreciate stars as much as I did before."

"Oh? You used to watch stars with someone too?" He asked, a little disappointed.

"Yes, with my cat… I take him out of the dorm and we sit in the roof of the clinic back home. The stars look way better here though."

He brightened up a little.

"But you can't see anything. The clouds cover everything."

There was a distant rumble of thunder.

"Light pollution mate." She flicked off a piece of glass that dangerously went close to her elbow. It shattered into pieces upon contact to the floor. There was a hill filled with houses to her right. The lights from the homes looked like stars too.

"Although.. If you want to see a cloudless sky, when we visit Earth, I can always bring you to the clinic's rooftop. The roof is much more comfortable, though the stars don't look as plenty as you have here." She said.

He stared at her, blue eyes lingered for a moment too long. His expression unreadable, then she realized with horror that she had offered a next time.

He looked back at the sky. Small drops of rain ruined his trance. There was a strange feeling that pulled on his chest. He ignored it, but he will not deny that he didn't like it. When she sighted and slammed her face into her freezing hands in regret for what she had said. He smiled and stated that he would like it to happen.

She shakily gaped at him.

"Well!" Kamui stood gracefully and clapped his hands together. He hopped into his room, avoiding all the sharp glass and patted her in the back. "I have to attend some business with Abuto's mom. Stay here and sleep, I'll get back to you in a few hours."

Chiaki dodged his second and third pat. The first one nearly bruised her back. "Stay here..." She looked around the dilapidated house and saw a foot long hissing centipede crawl from a crack in the wall to the broken window. Maybe the place looked like a regular home _before_ it was abandoned. Now, it was poorly stable hovel that could be destroyed with a few punches of Yato men. It was cold too, and the thunderous clouds indicated a typhoon. Plus, the broken window wasn't any help.

"I can't stay here. Let me follow you!" She begged. Why he couldn't see that the place looked partly haunted house and partly gangster dwelling was beyond her. There were even vandals in the wall that was painted with blood.

Kamui seemed to consider.

"Hell no." He said.

"But why?" She begged further.

"Because you're an eyesore, I don't want to be seen making friends with a brat like you." He ruffled her hair, messing it up in an unbelievable state. It looked bad already from the start, jagged in the bottom with three inches of it too long on her back. She only fixed her bangs when she remembers; there was no mirror in the clinic too.

"Fine. Leave me." _I'll probably leave after that and head back to the ship._

"Whatever you do, don't head back to the ship. You walking here at night is a fool proof suicidal attempt"

Her face must have given her plans away. Kamui frowned disapprovingly. He grabbed the collar of her lab gown and slammed her down his bed. She squealed at his sudden actions. He flipped her so that she was laying on her stomach, for a weak human, she struggled hard. He caught the both of her hands and pinned it on her back.

"What are you doing?" She yelled trying to wriggle herself free. The dusty pillow that her face was on made her nose itch.

"Making sure that you won't escape." To her horror there was a ruffle of clothing. She screamed.

Then a blanket covered her, she felt his hands move to under stomach and pull the blanket. The large cloth soon covered her struggling form, it wrapped around her and tightened on the small of her back. She craned her neck back to see that it was tied on a neat bow. She was rolled up tightly, stick straight on the bed, she couldn't move. She was tied up like a cocoon.

"What the hell is this!" She managed, trying to twist her way out .

"Just sleep. I'll see you later." He pushed her face down the pillow and left, just like that.

"YOU EVIL, EVIL SON OF-" _Wait no.._ "YOU EVIL SOD!" She yelled.

She tried to fall asleep for an hour and tried harder to fall asleep for another hour. Then she said, _ahh never mind._

Chiaki wriggled uncomfortably and tried to put a hand out. She twisted to her left and fell on the ground spine first. It was damn painful. She felt her ribs quake and her organs jumble in a bad way. She forced her right hand out of the cocoon via twisting her shoulders in an angle that was barely humane, in her imagination of course. She felt the muscles of her shoulder creak in pain before she finally had an arm jut out. She praised herself for the achievement. She tried to pry the blanket off her body, but Kamui must have been an excellent boy scout, because the knot was incredibly praise worthy.

She grimaced as she laid there on the floor in an awkward position. The groaned more, when it started to rain and droplets landed on her due to the broken window.

There was a box under Kamui's bed.

There was a misspelled label of 'toys' on it.

Chiaki stretched her arm out to pull the heavy box from under the bed. It fell sideways and a collection of knives, grenades and seventeenth century torture weapons scattered on the floor.

_What… I don't even… _

She unsheathed a short sword from its scabbard and slowly cut the blanket.

That's when she heard it.

Yato weren't ninjas. She learned that the terrifying way. There was shuffling on the door, the sound of feet stepping on puddles and the light from the torches that hurried to her direction from the window. She knew it wasn't Kamui, the Captain would simply kick the door open and drag her to the ship. She could hear voices muffled from the rain. The door on the first floor was banged furiously by a fist.

"Kamui you piece of shit bastard! Get out of there! I told you the last time that there will be revenge!" The voice wasn't particularly manly, but its frustration commanded attention.

_Why do bad things always happen to me?_

She ripped the blanket and kicked it off.

"Maybe he isn't here boss" Someone with a nasal voice gave his opinion.

"Shut up! We've checked their ship already it's empty! He's here" The leader insisted.

Chiaki groped for something, for anything! She was hoping for a gun or anything that could defend herself from them. Save from two grenades and the short sword, there was nothing else she could use. She remembered that Yato had machine gun modified umbrellas, but she left hers downstairs.

She sheathed the knife and placed it snugly on the band of her pants. The other grenade was placed in her pocket. She held in her right hand the other grenade and pulled the slightly heavy metal pole that was under Kamui's bed too. She was weak, but she damn well knew she wasn't incompetent.

She prayed that the men would guess that the house was empty and leave. But their leader was taking no chances. He kicked the door once. Chiaki flinched. Her heart was racing. She positioned herself that she would be able to throw the explosive down the ladder in case they enter and find out that she was there.

After hesitant arguments from outside, she heard the leader snarl in contempt.

He kicked the door. She braced herself when she heard many footsteps enter the house. They were flipping off items, breaking the furniture.

"Kamui come out and play!" Their leader said. There were more than five men inside the house.

"Check upstairs!" The same prominent voice ordered.

Chiaki felt her legs freeze and her hands shake in fear.

There was shuffling before the first head popped out to look. Chiaki would have hidden somewhere. Under the bed was easily seen when you climb the ladder, there was a cabinet beside the bed –the one with the pictures- but it was too small and the door didn't hold. The tables provided no cover and the roof can be easily seen.

The man who's head jutted out from the from the trap door whistled as he saw Chiaki's frozen form.

She couldn't move her legs, she couldn't move at all. She was standing there, exposed.

"Hey boss! It's the pretty lady Kamui was with-"

His disgusting voice forced her out of her stupor. She held the pole and jammed it into the man's eye. The man howled in pain and fell down. She heard the clatter of bodies slamming down to each other, the ladder broke and fell with the man.

Chiaki removed the pin of the grenade and dropped it. She counted to five.

_One… Two_

She used the bloodied pole to smash the broken glass off the windowsill.

_Three_

She climbed out of the window. Her knees got scraped by what was left of the shards she couldn't remove.

_Four_

Chiaki was on the roof, she heard their leader yell curses of his subordinate's incompetence. Nobody must have noticed the grenade.

_Five_

She couldn't do it. She couldn't jump. The roof was too high from the ground. Higher than what she had expected. She hesitated and the grenade exploded.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile:<strong>

"Come on Captain! You have to be impressed!" Abuto moved the fingers of his new robotic arm.

"It even has a wine opener!" The Vice Captain popped his pinky finger off. He boasted.

"Your mom's cooking is as delicious as ever." Kamui rubbed his stomach.

"YOU JUST CAME BECAUSE OF THE CASSEROLE DIDN'T YOU?" He hollered.

"Yep, pretty much." Kamui grinned like a fox.

"You're not even denying it!" Abuto wanted to strangle the man.

From afar, there was a flash of light, then a loud deafening explosion. The sound echoed and a pillar of smoke billowed, rising from where Kamui's house was. The both of them knew what that was, grenades in their planet were the strongest, three pieces was capable of clearing off a building. One was good enough to rip men into pieces.

Kamui's eyes widened in realization. His grin disappeared.

_Ohhh fuck..._

* * *

><p><strong>Another Author's Note:<strong>

Pretty long chapter ain't it? *mad eyebrow wriggling*

Thank you for reading and reviews are always a joy!

Thanks thanks.. :)


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: Yayyyy Update!

I've been really busy these past weeks. I only have Sundays as free days. *teary eyes* So I write fanfiction at the note pad of my phone (at school) then paste it whenever I get wifi. Don't worry, I haven't been ignoring classes for this. I'm studying real good~

So, I apologize for any randomness or grammar errors. Writing installments of the story day by day made its quality a bit shifty. Since I often repeat scenarios that I have already written. I tried to re-read and I fixed some problems, but I'm not perfect.

Oh, and by the way, lines that separate the stories means that there is a change of character point of views (Don't worry I don't repeat the same story just to let you guys know what the others think about it) like a scene for Abuto only, Chiaki only, or a solo scene with Kamui hogging the screen time. Since they'll be separated in the first parts of the chapter. It also indicates that time has passed by for a few days or so.

Thanks.

I do not own Gintama, Minecraft of anything. I just love writing.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

><p>It is a popular belief that anger clouds one's proper way of thinking. Once the said emotion stumbles, no, barges right into one's mental and emotional faculties, all reasoning is thrown right out of the window. In Kamui's case, thrown Abuto out of the window, but that was months ago, even before the nurse has been commandeered by a certain pirate captain. But that is a story for another time, at that fateful evening; Abuto had spiraled out of reach before Kamui could throw him in anger into a burning building, and this time too, it wasn't his fault.<p>

An observer would have stated that anger does not confine itself to throwing people or vice captains into windows going into space or into burning dwellings. The said observer would have been thrown into a burning window into space.

Kamui's first words upon reaching his now badly damaged house were a surprise to Abuto- who was still casually out of reach.

Abuto would have never thought, ever, that Kamui, his Captain, would kneel on the flooding street, clasping the nurses' now dirty lab coat, face in dire horror like he had lost something dear to his life. He brought the half charred coat near into his chest, blood and fleshy bits still stuck on it, and looked into the raining sky.

"Chiaki…. You bitch… WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY HOUSE?"

Ah, yes, Kamui then threw the coat into the burning building.

But instead, the coat flew a meter and landed into a puddle. There was a body of a well-built man tangled into it. Kamui's anger morphed into sick and twisted curiosity. The well-built man had third degree burns on his legs and arms, hair was reduced into a mass of foul smelling char. He was twitching, there was a knife imbedded between his shoulder and neck. There was Kamui's favorite knife as a kid, imbedded in him. The Captain raised an eyebrow and flipped the man, so that he was lying on his back. He was unconscious.

Kamui stepped on his right kidney.

The man howled in pain, fully conscious.

"K-Kamui!" The man said, clutching on his organ. He can recognize the infamous captain of the seventh division anywhere. He was afraid.

Kamui stepped on his face, a habit he can't rid of, the man groaned in pain.

"What the _hell_ happened here?" Kamui demanded, face calm and smiling. His voice said the opposite of what he was feeling at that moment, it was cheery. The unnamed Yato wriggled in fear. So this, was the feared Kamui, he thought. Nothing more than a teenager, but he held an aura of absolute strength, he whined when Kamui's foot stepped harder.

"Y-your wife! That pink hair! She- ack…s-she threw a grenade at us! Boss is looking for her!" He managed, he could taste blood. It was not uncommon for Yato to marry in such a young age. So Kamui ignored his assumptions.

"She's alive?" Kamui said. He felt relief bubble into his system, his anger washed away immediately. Now it was only his bloodthirsty side left, wanting to have a taste of action.

The man nodded in desperation.

"Why were you here in the first place?" His cleats dug into the man's cheek.

"Boss wanted revenge for the last time, when you beat him up!" Kamui smiled wider. They all knew how freaking strong Kamui was, Yato loved fighting, but they didn't like losing to an impossible opponent. They steered clear of him when he visited, he had attacked, but they were all defensive. The few who so insolently challenged him were pathetic, and now there was one more.

"Abuto" Kamui called his subordinate. When Abuto didn't say anything, he looked back and caught the vice-captain scrubbing his boot at an upturned cement slab.

"Abuto.." Kamui repeated. Abuto scrubbed harder, eyebrows knit in frustration.

Kamui held the unnamed Yato by his clothing and threw him at Abuto. Abuto dodged and glared at his Captain angrily. "What? What is it!" He dipped his foot on a puddle and scrunched his face in disgust. He was tired of cooly standing on the sidelines while his Captain hogged up the screen time. He was bored too. He decided to kick some pebbles for amusement when he realized that he was kicking off lumps of shit from the streets. The dark impaired his vision. It was too late when he noticed, now he was trying to cover up the smell, but it was strangely persistent.

"Look for Chiaki, she's still alive." Abuto stopped and inwardly rejoiced.

"Yes Captain, and what are you going to do?" He inquired, giving Kamui his signature grin, knowing too well what the answer was.

"I'm gonna kill them all."

* * *

><p>When the building exploded, Chiaki had thought that she would be torn apart into bits along with the house.<p>

She was wrong.

She flew from the second floor roof at a considerable distance to the dirt ground.

Chiaki realized that she was indeed alive and breathing when she found herself face down, drowning in a puddle. She craned her head back breathed in and forced her body to move aside. She faced the burning building. She didn't know that hand grenades held much power. She ignored the cold and first moved her fingers, they were intact, she moved her toes, and none was missing. She cried in relief knowing that she had no missing limbs.

Her ears hurt, especially the right, it was ringing, it was irritating.

Her shoulder was dislocated once again, and her ribs were bruised.

Her body was in so much pain that she wanted to vomit.

There were small pieces of glass stuck on her legs and scalp which she thought would be a pain to remove later. If she will survive, because in the corner of her vision, she could see men rising up from the fire, there were others too who were unharmed and those who died. Four months ago, if somebody told her that she would be in weeks' time, lodge a pole into a man's eye, and survive a grenade explosion that she herself created that killed several men. She would have directed the person to the nearest mental ward and watched the news for signs of a world war.

Awful sickening screams told her to _move._

Her first instinct was to remove her coat, it was white and caught attention like a large neon sign above the forbidden fruit saying, eat me.

She scrambled up, slowly, painfully and removed her coat. Halfway through, someone grabbed her in the back, lifting her up with tremendous strength. Her ribs twinged in pain. She bit her lip and waited. Her ribs were getting painfully crushed. She could feel her organs squeeze against her bones. She didn't struggle. Once the man set her lower, she used all of her strength to stab her heel onto his exposed foot, crushing bones with all her power. The man cried in pain, she spun, unsheathed her knife and twisted the knife on the man's shoulder.

She screamed too, the pain in her shoulder flared.

The Yato, body burned horribly, with his traditional clothing, now unrecognizable, stuck into his melted skin moved to grab at her.

She couldn't dodge even if she wanted to.

He clumsily reached and hit her on the lip. It bled painfully, her lower teeth moved in their sockets. Now close enough to give a retaliating blow, she balled her right hand into a fist and made contact to the man's neck. There was a horrible sound, like meat hitting meat. He gasped for air, and tumbled forward, bringing her along with him in a tangle of limbs. She slammed into the dirt ground and immediately kicked her way out. She finally removed her coat, which protected her from the burns, she bent down to pull the knife from the asphyxiating man.

She heard voices from the far side of the house. She pulled harder; the knife wouldn't leave the man. Chiaki cursed and abandoned the weapon. She wanted to run to the buildings; there were enough coverage to hide herself, now that what she's wearing consisted of darker colors, she was confident that she could maneuver herself unseen in the dark.

But she couldn't run further enough with her ribs in a state. The pain made her dizzy, and turned her movements sluggish.

There was a loud prominent voice, angry, bloodthirsty. The gang's leader was screaming justice.

Her foot scratched her own in a panicked attempt to flee. She shut her bleeding mouth and forced herself to move faster.

_Move fast… fast… FASTER._ She cried in her head.

She passed several buildings, and cut through alleys. She looked back a few times, but it was difficult to see when blood and rain seeped to her eyes. She breathed in and held her ribs for support. It was hard to move without experiencing piercing pain that immobilized her.

_Shit.. shit._

Her sensation of numbness was subsiding along with the earlier adrenaline rush. One by one, she could feel her injuries weigh her down like she was dragging a boulder through mud.

She wiped her eyes with her arm with frustration. Tears shouldn't be coming now… _No_

The whole situation hit her like a brick from heaven

_I'm going to die… I'm going to die…. I don't want to die._

Chiaki's foot slipped in soil riddled with moss. She wailed then emptied her guts.. She could hear the angry voices come closer, their torches blinding. There was another sound too, of rushing water, it was very near. Chiaki crawled fast to the sound, half dragging herself to it. There was a deep open canal below her, its opening on her reach. She gripped the mouth of the opening and slid herself smoothly inside.

It was cold, deep and wet. The passage was built circular. Clean rainwater gushed to a direction in her feet, it wasn't strong enough to bring her anywhere, but the cold chewed on her bones like termites. She rolled to her side and sat a little further on an elevated platform from the opening.

She expected to hear footsteps, but there were none. The loud gushing of rainwater drowned all sounds except from the distant shouting she heard.

The pain gradually worsened. Her senses that were dulled by the earlier panic completely cleared. She couldn't do anything now. Her torso burned in pain when she breathed in and any movement of sorts hurt her.

Slowly, she picked the glass shards that were stuck to her legs, one by one, until she was content. She was ready to die. She forced herself to believe. She watched the slow trickle of blood from her legs dry into crusts while clutching the last grenade she had.

If she sees someone crawl into the stinking hole she entered. She was going to pull the pin and kill herself along with the intruder.

* * *

><p><em>Cannon fodder…. Another one….. side character…<em>

Abuto's face was plain, devoid of emotion. He stretched his left leg and sent a man slamming through cement walls. The others who were circling him backed away nervously. They had thought that they would have a better chance if they attacked him together. Fools they were. There was a reason why the dirty blonde was the second in command.

The vice-captain ran and slid on the muddy ground. His shoulder made contact to a man's chin, removing his lower teeth at once. He grabbed the man by the foot and used him as a melee weapon. Abuto swiped their feet with the man's body. As they fell to the ground, the vice-captain attacked.

He didn't like killing his own kind, no. But he was fond of donating life threatening injuries.

Abuto flipped from the pile of unconscious men and landed feet first to the front of the last man who instantly had pee stains running down his pants.

Our favorite dirty blonde hooked the man's collar and lifted him up for inspection.

The thin mustachioed man squealed in fear, grabbing on his neck line for support.

He had never been this afraid his entire life.

Abuto scrutinized the man; he was no less than a boy, just taller than most of his age group. His fake mustache was falling off and there was snot running from his nose. He was struggling wildly from his position.

The vice-captain regarded him.

"Don't be a stiff, it's just a quiz."

The boy whined nervously, he was looking everywhere, away from the blonde's face.

"Oi! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Abuto whacked the man in the skull. He stiffened and paid attention. _No use acting all cool now, the Captain must be impatient… _"Where is the pink haired brat you were tracking?" He shook the guy mercilessly.

"I-I don't know!"

"The usual answer." He spat to his side. "I told you, it's a quiz, and you just gave the wrong answer."

"I swear! I don't know! She left blood for us to follow but she disappeared!" He cried.

"Better, but still wrong." This was bad, Abuto thought. If she was alive now, there was a chance that she would be dead before he found her.

"Please! I'm sorry, I'm just following orders!"

Abuto clicked his tongue. He didn't want to kill the brat. He had a soft spot for young weaklings. A long long time ago, he was like that too. But he had a reputation to be kept. He dropped the young boy and ordered him to go to the last place he saw Chiaki's tracks. The brat scurried around nervously before leading him into a deserted alley. There was a slight bloody handprint on a wall, small enough to be a child's hand, small enough to be Chiaki's. It was headed for east. Abuto followed it and found nothing.

He went back to the print and considered walking into another direction when he spotted a large opening on the ground, water from the rain was pouring in at an alarming rate.

_Aha!_

Abuto looked at the young boy who was forced to follow him. He made a gesture asking him to come close. Abuto whacked the man with his red umbrella, harder this time. The kid fell into the ground with a painful thud.

Chiaki felt like she was going crazy with fear. It had always been in her understanding that dying was something not to be afraid of. She didn't believe in the afterlife. Thus dying was the end of everything, and it means when dead, when all feeling and need has been stripped out from one. There was no sense in fearing it.

But at that moment, her belief didn't make a lick of sense. She was shaking with fear. Fingers numb from cold and pain. All sounds made her heart race. So when Abuto came down from the opening. She was sitting in the pavement, the lower portion of her body under rainwater. Her shivering left hand held the explosive, the fingers of her right on the pin.

Abuto stood motionless on the running water.

_I want to go home…. _

"Abuto…" Her voice was hoarse. She looked at the explosive. It was safe, she didn't remove the pin.

Chiaki dropped the grenade and unwittingly gouged out about a fist size chunk of Abuto's heart in the process.

He didn't cry when Hosen lopped off the head of his father.

He didn't cry when his mother fell ill and he had to watch his brothers grow stronger in training every day while he worked with the old man blacksmith that was kind enough to accept a scrawny kid like him.

He never shed a tear for his comrades that he led to death and injury under his Captain's orders.

And yet he felt like he was breaking down at that moment.

"Don't cry." He managed, more than to himself than to her. But she was crying too, more to relief than anything. Abuto mustered all the fatherly sense in the world and hugged the pink haired nurse. She cried harder and embraced him as well. Abuto leaned to whisper in her ear.

"If you tell this to anyone I'll kill you."

Whatever emotion Chiaki felt washed down along with rainwater.

She bit him in the chest.

* * *

><p>Truth be told, Kamui spent most of his time running around looking for opponents rather than the actual fighting. He planned to sit by the ruins of his house, but after twenty minutes of doing nothing. He stood up and started searching for his enemies.<p>

He beat the first three with ease, it was child's play, really.

He wanted to interrogate the last one but he found out the man to be unconscious. He must have accidentally used too much force. Walking around more, he spotted an old man carrying a bunch of carrots on his way home. He asked if the old man saw anyone suspicious. In hopes of finding them easily. But the man just shook his head and muttered,

"Selfish young brats, always fighting around, never thinking of helping random old men on the streets! What's wrong with this generation?"

Kamui was rude and he found old men useless, so he kicked the bearded baldy and watched him tumble comically down a steep road to a convenient cliff that he never knew existed in the first place.

Of course the noise of the screaming old man brought forth new enemies, in which Kamui disposed of easily too. He also kicked them down the cliff.

Kamui walked around more before finally settling down. Maybe he should have followed Abuto and looked for the nurse. If he was the one who found her, maybe she would be eternally grateful and be his willing slave for a lifetime. His thoughts were interrupted when a disfigured umbrella (all umbrellas look like poorly made imitations compared to Kamui's) flew and stabbed his shoulder blade. Kamui looked behind him curiously before yanking the umbrella off.

It was a stupid move to show off one's coolness. He thought. Now he had two umbrellas, his opponent did not have any.

"Kamui! Finally, our fates have crossed again." Big, buff, with 'x' shaped scars running through his face and short cropped hair. Add a bunch of gold earrings and a bat with nails on the hitting end and the man would look like your typical school gangster leader. But he was a Yato, so he was your typical Yato gangster leader.

"And you are?" Kamui questioned the man's identity. Normally, he would have just said a punch line and then the slaughter. But the man was too far away and his legs hurt from too much walking. It was raining too, and he didn't want to condition his perfect orange hair again later, so he wasn't getting it wet.

"I am Kaname- wait… you don't remember?" He scratched his cheek.

"No I don't, there are too many scum like you lying around and it's a waste of brain cells to remember all the names of you losers that I have defeated." He stated back.

Kaname blinked, that must have hurt.

"Anyhow! Prepare to get obliterated!" He charged with the force of a bull. Kamui aimed the man's umbrella and shot him in the skull. Kaname must haven't noticed it yet, because he still ran a few steps before he tumbled down and laid dead face first on the worm infested ground.

"Yikes" Abuto said from behind Kamui.

The Captain turned around and saw Abuto carrying an unamused nurse on his back, both shielded by Abuto's red umbrella. Chiaki had cuts on random parts of her body, her one arm was on a make shift sling. The longer parts of her pink hair were burned to a shade of black and she had soot on her face. Other than that, she looked alright.

She gave Kamui a brief nod and looked away from the corpse on his feet.

There was a short pause on them three. None knew what to do or what to say. Kamui walked slowly towards the both of them. His lips were in a frown.

Chiaki felt the beating of her heart quicken again. This time not out of fear but out of something else, there was a strange relief knowing that Kamui was alright. And now he was approaching them. Abuto must have sensed it, he shifted a little.

"Hold this." Kamui handed her the dead man's umbrella. She held the heavy weapon as hard as she could. He used his free hand to untie his grey cloak. He struggled on folding it in half and suddenly, Chiaki found herself enveloped in warmth. The cloth was put snugly on her back. Abuto, who witnessed the entire event, had his eyes pop out. He immediately turned away, biting his lip to prevent himself from laughing like a lunatic. The blood he lost from the deep cut on his lip was worth it.

"W-what's this all about!" _Oh my God! Couldn't you have waited a week before doing something as drastic as this! _Chiaki seemed to choke on nothing.

"Eh, I thought I saw on TV that weak ass victims of crimes wear shock blankets to prevent … shock." He said nonchalantly.

Abuto's body shook involuntarily, his barrier was starting weaken, if this continues, he could laugh and ruin the moment. His face was red and he had tears leaking from the pressure.

"It doesn't work like that!" She blurted out instead of a thank you. "And I don't think shock blankets are supposed to be drenched in blood and gore!" She said. The blanket was just a little red on the edges, Kamui thought she was exaggerating. Chiaki's face was heating up, she was forcing down a stupid fourteen year old smile. The kind she had when their class representative talked to her during classes.

_The time is inappropriate. Hold it in Chiaki!_

_Wait a second…_

_The person is inappropriate too! Dammit! Priorities man, PRIORITIES!_

"And I'm not in shock." She gave him a genuine smile.

The 'blanket' was really warm.

"Back to home base then." Kamui said to himself. But the both of his comrades, with flushed faces for different reasons saluted him.

"Hai Senchou!" (yes captain)

* * *

><p>"I'm not in shock my ass…" Chiaki muttered to her own self. She was curled up on one of the clinic's bed. Eyes wide open. By the gods she couldn't sleep. She knew as an almost professional that she was out of death's range.<p>

Her body was shaking out of control. Her skin was cold and her heart was beating at an alarming rate.

Abuto had dropped her off to the clinic after everything, asked if she wanted him to stay. It was a kind gesture that she refused; now she regretted it.

"I just killed people." She muttered to herself. She remembered the horrid sound when she stabbed a pole to a man's eye. The burning building. The horrible screams of those who were trapped. The fleshy note of when she stabbed the burning stranger on the shoulder.

She understood that she had no choice, and it was best that she did it, but killing was strange for someone who was unfamiliar with it. She had always expected that she was going to die immediately, ever since she was taken, but somehow survived until now.

Chiaki crawled from the bed to retrieve a glass of water when she saw Kamui's cloak that she had abandoned after she went in. She was planning to wash it on a later date when the scratches on her hands have healed. She remembered how comforting it was.

She pursed her lips and dragged the cloak to her bed. Replacing the pathetic excuse for a blanket she had.

It was infinitely better.

She closed her eyes and slept.

Only to be woken up much later in great pain.

_Okay… right, pain killers._

She was fully awake now, not just awake in the sense of not sleeping, but awake in full perception of her senses. The clinic was eerily dark. She frowned and pulled out a worn looking flashlight from the underside of her pillow. She needed water, and anything to put the pain down. So far, she wasn't dead, which was good, but the dull persistent ache of her muscles and the addition of sharp stinging pain from her legs forced her awake.

She grumbled incoherently and forced herself to stand from the bed, the blanket falling off her shoulders.

She hissed when she felt the cold touch her skin, and hissed again when she found out that bending and dragging the clothing was too painful. She will have to do it later.

Chiaki held on furniture for support and walked on a turtle's pace to the bathroom where her personal stock of medicine went into. She entered the bathroom.

Illuminated by the flashlight, there was a prominent silhouette of a man lying behind the shower curtains. Her first instinct was to run. But the pain from her stitched up injuries brought her to reality. No one in that Planet was crazy enough to sneak into the ship only to end up sleeping in a tub. It was dumb and unreal. Whoever was in there may have needed her medical attention while she was away, too busy getting blown to bits.

It was likely one of Kamui's men.

She didn't want to take chances though. The nurse slowly limped towards her bed and fetched the umbrella she had obtained from the man Kamui had killed. She knew how it worked; there was a small trigger above the handle that shot bullets out of the end of the umbrella. It was also ridiculously heavy, most likely from being filled with ammunition.

Chiaki went back to the bathroom and used the end of the umbrella to move a section of the shower curtain. She peered in, whoever the man was, he was wearing dark boots, and even darker clothing. There was occasional snoring of an awfully familiar voice. It was a well-built man.

His head was obscured from her vision.

The nurse grumbled quietly and leaned in a little.

Before she knew it, a metal hand seized the end of the umbrella. She let go before she was dragged into the tub along with the weapon. She let out a silent scream and scrambled out in panic.

"It's me!" In a long suffering voice, Abuto announced his presence.

Chiaki was in her toes, reaching for a scalpel to protect herself when irritation rushed in.

She didn't have time for this bullshit.

The nurse pocketed her scalpel rather indignantly and made a beeline to the bathroom.

"Ever heard of privacy?" She whispered to the dirty blonde who was picking his nose, he was lying very comfortably on the bathtub. There was a flowery futon supporting his weight, lining the entire shower area. There were pillows too, and a brown teddy if she had looked hard enough. But she was ticked off, she was _done_ for the day with Yato!

"Get out, it's my room, the only sanctuary I have, I can't have you violating it." Screw manners, she thought. Abuto wasn't even responsive. He didn't have legit reasons to start using her tub as his own second bedroom. How the heck did he even manage to bring the futon in without waking her up?

"No can do nurse." Abuto grumbled. He threw a pillow at her face. "I'm going to sleep here for the rest of…" He counted a bit with his fingers, but it must have been long, because he gave up and shifted to a more comfortable position. "You better go back to bed though; the Captain likes to wake up early." He grumbled, voice slurred from tiredness.

"I don't give shit!" She was starting to talk like a real pirate now. "Leave dammit!"

When Abuto only stared at her, she flipped him the bird angrily and started pulling him by his boot. She knew she should be kneeling down thanking him for his efforts, but this was wrong in many levels. Chiaki didn't want anyone to thing of the wrong idea of why Abuto was sleeping in her office. She had a reputation to hold on to, even if it was almost nonexistent.

When the vice-captain wouldn't budge, she started pulling harder, screaming profanities this time.

"Abuto, tell the nurse to pipe down!" She heard her Captain's voice outside the bathroom.

Too curious to leave it as hallucinations, she ignored Abuto, who was covering his ears with soft fluffy pillows and spotted her newly repaired closet. There were suspicious sounds inside. The closet had a sliding door, it wasn't large enough to lay horizontal in, but if one really tried, it could be a comfortable place hiding spot.

She slowly opened the door.

Kamui's face greeted her like a punch on the heart. Partly from fear, the other for several other factors she would deny if came to discussion

"Ah, is it morning already?" Kamui said, his hair on a messy pony tail. In his favorite banana and salmon pajamas.

She shut the door close.

"Don't worry Human nurse-san, it's only temporary until….. we're just starting now for practice." The pause, she imagined to her horror was for the same counting with two hands jig Abuto demonstrated earlier. She decided that they wouldn't be a threat. It was strangely better that it wasn't some other stranger…. Better the Yato you know right?

She took her pain killers, bundled up a pillow and her Captain's cloak and slept on a conveniently large cupboard in the ship's kitchen.

* * *

><p>Chiaki looked okay, just a bit roughed up on the sides, but she looked decent. There were bruises in inconvenient areas if one would look close enough. But barely anyone took much notice on her, so it was all good.<p>

She was really hungry too.

Aiko couldn't be found anywhere, and for some strange reason, the canteen was padlocked, with a biohazard sign on it. Rumors said that specialists were inside, disinfecting the place. There was a cockroach infestation. She sneaked in the kitchen in hopes to find food when she realized that she has been beaten by a few hours.

Abuto was sitting on a stool playing Minecraft on his PSP.

Kamui was rummaging through the garbage cans. The fridges were empty, if broken fridges and spilled contents of putrid unknown substances were an indication of anything.

There was also a dodgy looking burger patty lying on the floor near Abuto's feet.

Chiaki was desperate.

"Abuto-san, could you move a little, I need to fetch that burger patty on the floor." She motioned at the stinking pile of soiled beef.

Abuto paused his game and raised an elegant eyebrow.

Kamui stopped rummaging, his antenna was twitching.

"For what?" Abuto was curious.

The nurse just pointed at her stomach. Okay, maybe, she just wanted to throw it away. But the patty looked warm and inviting, like a mother's casserole to a hungry child.

Abuto gave her a disgusted look and spread his arms wide to prevent her from reaching the vile object.

"No, it's on the freaking floor! Who eats food off the floor?"

"You know what they say… If it hasn't been there for five hours, it's still safe to eat." Kamui piped in, his blue eyes mischievous. Chiaki sensed that he wanted her precious for himself. She needed to fight for it.

"No, everyone knows it's not true." She corrected Kamui.

"As long as it hasn't been stepped on, IT'S STILL SAFE TO EAT!" She announced then dived for the burger. Abuto, like a soccer player, moved to the direction of the desperate nurse and stopped her by gripping her skull tight. Then in the corner of his eye, he saw his Captain lunge to his left. The vice-captain immediately used his free hand and slammed his red umbrella on Kamui's chest. The Captain did a flip backwards and landed on his own feet.

There was silence. Even Chiaki stopped struggling.

"I hope this is the last time you'll betray me Abuto." Kamui whispered. Eyes dark with hunger.

"Eh?" Abuto said, being the intelligent being he was.

He shifted to his left and squirmed when he felt his left foot get dragged down by the mass of rotting meat.

He stepped on the freaking patty.

The nurse regarded him as 'piece of ****' and popped herself out of his grip. They both left the kitchen with dark clouds of miasma following their trail

* * *

><p>"Eh, Chiaki… What are you doing here?" Abuto said, moving to his side to let the nurse pass. They were at the hallway near Kamui's office. Chiaki was still wearing a sling. The cuts on her face were only visible if inspected close enough. Her legs had scabs in it, so she covered them with pants. She was wearing a full dark blue unsexy nurse outfit. (Courtesy of Aiko-chan)<p>

She had grown thinner, but she didn't seem to be depressed or anything. Contrary to what she always looked like, the nurse was really clean that day. Hair in pony tails, no unusual blood stains on her clothes or body, she was trying to force a smile too.

She was holding a cleaner folded version of Kamui's cloak.

"I wanted to say thank you for that day." Her lips inched a smile. "If you didn't find me, I'm probably a corpse rotting in your planet by now."

"Ah.. that." Abuto's pinky finger made its way to his ear. He started scratching nonchalantly, ugly mug on its usual deadpan.

"Actually, if the Captain didn't order me to look for you, I probably wouldn't have. You know, I was expecting to bring back a corpse just to show him how weak earthlings are. It should have stopped his obsession, but nooooo. You just had to live." He said it, but his lips were twitching, obviously trying to put down a smile.

Chiaki felt a vein pop. "Oh ye of little faith!" She hit him mercilessly with the cloak.

She would have continued hitting him for minutes while the dirty blonde just stood there, cleaning his nails if the ship didn't suddenly jerk backwards like it collided with something. Chiaki let out a gasp as she fell down on the cold floor, she shielded her dislocated shoulder, but her other arm took the damage of the fall.

She looked at Abuto in alarm, expecting him to dash to an important part of the ship then bark orders, but he just stood there. Looking down at her, like she was a bug that oh so insolently landed on his leather shoes.

"Uuuhhhh." Chiaki said, confused. She collected herself and stood up.

"We've landed on the Harusame base." He said.

"Ah… Oh! The base, right… Okay…" Chiaki stuttered. She didn't know they were heading to the base that fast! She didn't even know that they were out of the Yato planet. She must have been sleeping for more than a night then, after the 'incident.'

"Can you give this to the Captain?" She handed out Kamui's cloak. _I'm getting really attached to it, it's disturbing._

Abuto raised an elegant eyebrow then flipped her off.

"Give it yourself" He let out.

_I don't know what's wrong with you today… but I don't think I'll get killed by you for joking a little. I can get punched, but it's gonna be worth it._

"Sorry." She deadpanned. "You just resemble an errand boy." She said then ran off.

"Oi!" Abuto hollered in retaliation to the retarded joke.

Chiaki turned to a corner and collided face first to the collar bone of none other than the Captain. She toppled back, but gained her footing. Her nose felt painful and was instantly warmer than the rest of her body. "Oww Ouch!" She kneeled and covered her nose, blood tricked from it painfully.

Abuto, who was chasing after her stopped running and guffawed at the scene.

Chiaki would have thrown a rock at him. But there was no rock in sight and the pain blocked whatever righteous response she could have made. She inspected her nose and found that it wasn't broken. It was only bleeding. She pinched her nose and leaned forward a little. It was embarrassing.

Kamui looked at her with mild interest.

"Good evening Chiaki." He said as if nothing happened.

"Good evening Captain." She replied, but her voice sounded horribly nasal. Abuto laughed harder.

"I wanted to give this back to you." She handed him his cloak.

Kamui took the article of clothing and pondered a little. "Keep it." He said, "Christmas is approaching and the crew likes to crank up the temperature for a more Christmassy vibe… It's usually a negative and it would be a pain if you get sick and not do our paperwork."

Chiaki in the inside was secretly happy that she will keep the cloak.

Chiaki on the outside humbly received the cloak, with no emotion at all. She wanted to snatch it from his hands and act all tsundere, but she had the feeling that he would kick her in the organs if she did.

"Thanks." She smiled a little and turned.

"Also, Abuto and I are going out now, you are not coming, and while we're here docked at the Harusame base, unless it's necessary, stay in your hovel." Kamui said.

_Why does everyone insist calling the clinic a hovel?_

_... _

_Is he worried about my safety?_

"Why?" She blurted out. Gods… she felt her temperature rise up.

"Because, we don't want to be seen with you." Kamui said.

Chiaki's face darkened a little.

"If the other divisions see the Yato allowing some weakling to tag along with them, it might dirty our reputation a little. So get lost okay?"

Of all the evil things in the world. There are those that topple over others. Chiaki was unfazed though. It was not because she was used to this specific kind of maltreatment. Deep inside, whatever liking she had for Kamui's group disappeared, or maybe that's what she told herself. _Logic needs to be paired with emotion._ She remembered the doctor say. _In situations like these, do not lose your shit._ She could hear the doctor's voice echo in her head.

"Okay." She responded. Chocolate brown eyes turned into pitch black.

_Dig into the evil within you Chiaki…_

"Eh?" Kamui titled his head to the side. He wasn't expecting that reaction. He thought she would get all pissed and begin doing ridiculous things or even plead to join them.

"Listen, any sensible person would not hang out with pirates." Her voice was cold, like a blizzard in Antarctica. "As such I would have not, if I had a choice. So, as now that the amount of pirates will be doubled with visitors or other reasons and outside are a _fuck_ load bunch of other pirates that _you, _my sweet Captain have no control of whatsoever. Following your orders or not, I would still 'get lost' and stay in my '_hovel'_… Suggesting that I'm not going was not needed, by the way, because I do not wish also, to be seen with you."

For a moment, she paused, all that talk about not losing her cool and she let out an entire diatribe.

Kamui reached to towards her in a speed faster than what she could see with her two eyes. It was too fast. Too late to apologize for her impudence, she scrunched her eyes shut in a vain attempt to at least avoid the carnage.

She was carried by the waist and plopped on the shoulder of Abuto. Like how a three year old rides her father's shoulders.

Abuto, like the proper mule he was let out an incredulous 'wha-' to his Captain.

Kamui was standing at a convenient chair that was right beside Abuto.

"She's coming with us." Kamui said, he had a wild grin on his face. Mischievous, evil…. maybe only to the gaping nurse.

"But I don't want to!" She tried going down from Abuto's shoulders, but he was very tall, and it would require sliding down him uncomfortably.

"Captain's orders!" Kamui chirped.

"She can come… But why is she riding my shoulders!" Abuto demanded answers. He moved too fast and Chiaki grabbed his forehead with support.

"It's going to be difficult to see the view if she's that short" was the reply.

Abuto decided to stop gaping at his Captain, because Chiaki was gaping too, and it would be embarrassing if they both gaped at the same time and someone would see.

"But I don't want to come…." Chiaki repeated, tears running down her face for an unknown reason. It seemed like every time she encountered Kamui bullshit happens. Abuto looked up and pinched the side of her face hard. There was dried blood above her lips and her cheeks were stained with tears. "Stop crying! You already look ugly enough!" He grumbled. Abuto took the cloak and wiped the gross dripping stuff from her face.

There was a nagging sensation that he was going to act like a nanny for the rest of the evening.

"Abuto!" Kamui said from afar. "Look!"

He popped an arm in the cage of a space lion that was getting pushed in by panicking crew.

He face palmed. He_ was_ the nanny.

* * *

><p>Author's note number two:<p>

Thank you for reading. Criticism is always welcome. :) I'll try update faster. :)


	9. Chapter 9

Author's note: dun Dun DUN an update! Horrah! Thank you for those who gave support. Thank you. Thank you!

I don't own Gintama. In fact, I don't own anything!

* * *

><p>"And that is?"<p>

A slow to speak, glasses below the spot where glasses are supposed to be worn, toupee, pointy ears, pointy teeth, an old thin Amanto wearing nothing but a pair of loose pants and a vest asked. He was rudely pointing his cheap retractable pen to Chiaki, who was comfortably sitting on Abuto's shoulders. Her thin legs were wrapped around his neck. She was chewing on a plato wrap, filled with something suspicious, but she was hungry.

"That's the seventh division chief medic." Kamui said.

"Hmmm.." The Amanto mused; he went through his records and found nothing.

"Gender?" He questioned the impatient trio.

"Female." She said.

The old man raised an eyebrow.

"R-race?"

"Human." Chiaki replied.

"Human?" The old man squinted and scribbled something down. Chiaki thought he would be done by then. But he started stamping records and typing on an ancient looking computer. The three grimaced.

Kamui stepped forward and tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Mister." The Captain of the seventh division said.

"Hmm? What is-"

"There's a mosquito on your face. Let me help you kill it." Kamui made a round house and the old man flew off his podium and crashed through the side wall. In a normal circumstance, the nurse would have quietly climbed down the safety of Abuto's shoulders and depending on the severity of the situation, either help the old man, or deemed the both of her companions as nut jobs then ran away in record speed. Unfortunately for the injured Amanto, he was the tenth victim under 'old men' that her Captain had attacked. The two Yato forbade her for climbing down Abuto's back, since patching up poor victims were considered as a complete waste of time and according to Kamui there were too many losers lying around being weak and useless already, so he was doing a favor for the pirate group.

She merely flinched and felt Abuto's grip on her ankles tighten a mere fraction. He warned her like that, and she responded by tugging a lock of his blonde hair, meaning that Kamui was walking forward and Abuto spaced out again.

"Do you do this every time you leave the ship?" She mused out loud.

"What are you talking about? The Captain is super tame this time, he usually leaves a trail of corpses whenever we land on the base, the janitors always complain my ears off." He drawled.

"He's tame this time?" Chiaki paled.

"He probably thought that you would go all mother hen and start treating everyone in an instant. We don't need two Aiko….-chans"

"Actually, now that you mention it." Chiaki rubbed her chin. She hated, or maybe just disliked Amanto, even in earth. They were mostly cocky, arrogant in nature, often looking down at her race. There were many injustices back in Edo concerning aliens and humans. In court, her race always lost, even if evidence was more than enough to send the aliens out of the planet. They were lewd too, and she didn't like it that the only thing she could do was to politely laugh off insults. She didn't miss the disapproving look the green old man said when she said that she was human.

"Captain…" She called out to Kamui who was in front of them –Abuto always believed that walking behind in a respectful distance was a must for all top underlings, it also looked cool-.

Kamui craned his neck back.

"You can run around and flip pirates off as much as you like, I'm not going to do anything." She gave him a smile. He looked a little dark too.

The salmon haired man knitted his brows. "What about the Hippocratic oath you were so keen on telling me?" He questioned her.

"It's merely guideless. I just said it before to try and help you, besides I serve under you right? So I won't help them anyways." _I know it's bad, but I don't like aliens…. You're an alien too, but you're pretty okay…. And also, I think you'll start murdering your own crew if you don't get your fix this time._

And with that, the Captain brightened up a little.

_"__Good girl."_ Abuto thought.

* * *

><p>When the Captain announced to the both of them that they were going to a Harusame pirate Captain meeting, Chiaki didn't know what to expect. Abuto only visibly flinched and started sweating like a horse, something she didn't like because who liked sitting on things covered in sweat? She had asked to go down, but Kamui refused. Later, she was thankful that she remained seated.<p>

Kamui and Abuto entered a large open area filled with many, different species of Amanto. It looked like a primitive wrestling arena or an amphitheater, with a massive ring in the center and long metal seats on the sides. Most aliens stood though. In front, near the ring were prominent looking figures in similar uniforms as her Captain. Above the spacious meeting place was a clear glass dome. She could see a number of battle ships loom ominously above, along with thousands of stars and galaxies.

Chiaki could count ten mean looking Captains. There were two females, a bunch of half animals and the few were more human looking, like Kamui. The three walked down, pass several crowds of squid faced, dog faced, cheetah faced Amanto. Each seemed like they belonged into different divisions. Not far from the lowest circle where they were heading, she could spot familiar faces of the 7th division's members. All wearing black and fully equipped with weapons. Truth be told, as grand as the area could be, it also stank of strange smells that messed with her senses. It was horribly noisy too.

She craned her neck to the front and saw Kamui walk to the seats nearest to the arena, where the other Captains sat. Abuto stopped at the entrance; he was standing on an area where he had complete view of his Captain. There were other vice captains too, standing near where their leaders sat. But only Abuto looked trustworthy. The rest of the Vice Captains stood taller and meaner, with extra tentacles and teeth to match their muscle.

"I still don't know what I'm doing here." She was still perched on Abuto's shoulders. "Why didn't you let me sit with your other crew, they look sane enough…. And don't you feel tired having me sit on your shoulders?" She asked.

"An interesting query." Abuto's voice was barely audible in the noise. "There was this one instance that the Captain forced me to be his mule, he was heavy as fuck, but you don't feel like anything so don't worry." Abuto was sweating profusely.

"Stop sweating so much! And you still didn't answer why I'm here."

"You know those other people who are standing like I am?" Abuto subtly pointed at the unmoving Amanto. "They are representatives, I am the Vice-captain, and you are the Head Medic, the Head Pilot should be here soon." He grumbled.

Chiaki made a happy sound.

She had a rank! She always thought she was under the category of 'slave' or 'disposable garbage.' She couldn't resist smiling like an idiot, even if it was a pirate rank. Abuto must have sensed her abrupt change of attitude. He snorted in disgust. "The only reason you're the 'head medic' is because you _are_ the only medic we have." Because he was an asshole.

Chiaki was a douche too.

"I have extra hemorrhoid cream on the top shelf, but I guess you won't be getting any." She whispered.

"Oi!" Abuto hollered, she almost fell from his shoulders in surprise but managed to grip a tuft of his hair. She used it as leverage to pull her up. She accidentally ripped a handful of his luxurious locks, but he didn't seem to notice. She shoved it in her pocket to burn for later. Hide all the evidence.

A few minutes of useless arguing from the both and the head pilot came.

"Ey!" She said cheerily, she bent down and posed her right hand for a high five. Her left hand gripped Abuto's skull for support. The head pilot stared at her with a blank face.

"Who are you?" He asked.

Chiaki grimaced and turned away. Her chin propped on her arm. She remembered rescuing the man from bleeding to death in the previous lizard attack. It seemed like he didn't remember her. Come on! How many female pink haired shrimps are present in the ship that he couldn't remember her?

"Everyone! Silence please!" A short Amanto holding a trumpet said from a higher platform.

"Admiral assho- I mean Admiral Abo is here!" He announced in a nasal voice with a salute and a bow. A hefty looking Amanto stepped from the door in the platform. He had a particularly smug look on his equally hefty looking face. He looked pompous enough to be a duke of some unknown country, but to be the admiral of a pirate ship... Chiaki scrunched her brows in confusion.

"That's the admiral?" She shifted uncomfortably, voice unbelieving.

Abuto picked lint from his coat. "No shit." He said in monotone.

"Eh, I expected him to look cooler, like Freddie Mercury, or even Schwarzenegger."

Abuto's eyes lazily drifted to her. He reached up and slapped her mouth lightly to shut her up, she might cause unwanted attention. Abuto didn't know why Kamui brought the nurse along. He didn't mind her company, but the term 'Harusame base' was if not almost, equivalent to tightrope walking without a net for those who are weak as hell. Especially a meeting where the higher ups were concerned, one wrong move and it might jeopardize their safety.

Chiaki grumbled under her breath and sulked on his shoulders. If he wanted her to shut up, he could have just said it nicely.

"Everyone, there is a crisis involving the Harusame's fourth division's head, Kujaku Hime Kada-" The admiral spoke slowly, carefully enunciating words one by one. It would have been good if he was teaching language, but it was tiresome and somewhat irritating. The nurse forced herself to listen out of conduct, but soon, she found herself being distracted by the simplest of things. She looked around and found that there was barely anyone who wanted to pay attention to the man. They were talking to their seatmates, playing their PSPs or just staring into space like what she did. It reminded her of school.

Even Abuto was busy picking dirt off his nails.

"Kamui." Her attention snapped back to the Admiral.

Kamui raised his head a bit.

"I want you to go back to earth and capture Kujaku Hime." It was an order that made her heart race. She gulped. Back to Earth… there was a likely chance it would be to Edo. She felt Abuto shift below her. He subconsciously tightened his grip on her ankles. It hurt, but she didn't mind.

She didn't know if it was her imagination. But for a fraction of a second Kamui's eyes moved and met her eager brown ones. They looked dead serious, it put cold shivers through her spine. Kamui propped his chin on his awaiting arm and smiled.

"I refuse." He announced.

She felt her chest ache.

"Why?" The admiral said, incredulous, it wasn't common for the Captains to refuse his orders but it happens.

"Earth is too troublesome to visit again, Admiral assho- I mean Admiral Abo. Don't expect me to come back there immediately after finding out that there's nothing but trash to pick on hmm?" Every word hit her chest like a hammer. There was knowledge between them that she was no longer a part of his crew. And that she would go home once they visit their planet again. She remembered their conversation after they were trapped for hours in the desert planet they fell into. And he took that chance away from her.

"Hmm? But rumors say that you are interested in Samurai, that you wanted to kill a specific person there. Don't tell me you got me all excited for nothing?" Another Captain said. He was curious.

Kamui glared at Abuto who had been spreading the rumors.

"You don't understand do you? 3rd division Captain-san, you have to wait a little until a fruit ripens before you eat it, other than that and it would be a waste." He avoided Chiaki, who was probably staring at him.

He had his particular reasons. Not yet, he thought. _Not yet._

"I see.." The 3rd division Captain mused, but Kamui didn't hear him.

He avoided her stare, yes, but when Abuto moved to pick her from his own shoulders and had her sit on the ground. He needed to see why. She was crouched on the dirty floor; she was hugging her legs muttering something he couldn't hear. Abuto frowned heavily and stayed behind her so only a few could see. Fat wet tears flowed freely from her puffed eyes. She caught his eyes again, but this time, she looked betrayed.

She always had thought that she was tough as nails. She didn't know she was holding back. She felt like it was petty to cry, but she couldn't stop. At least she wasn't wailing like an idiot.

Kamui felt his throat tighten.

"Kamui!" The Admiral said for the umpteenth time.

"What is it now?" Kamui snapped.

"Since you refuse to follow my initial orders, I need to give you another task to do." He paused a bit. "Do you remember Princess Yukiko?"

"I remember her." Kamui replied. How could he forget? That princess was the sole reason why he snuck to sleep at the clinic's cabinet every damn night. She was an avid fan of him. He once almost killed her for sneaking into his room one night; it was good that Ungyo found him fast. "She _was _one of the biggest funders of the Harusame. But now that she's found out. Her father has controlled all the resources that she took from her home planet. She's useless now." The admiral said.

Kamui scrunched his eyebrows. "You want me to bring her back home in exchange for a ransom."

The Admiral paused. He was going to ask Kamui to dispose of the Princess, but it seemed as if Kamui was pretty crafty in pirate matters.

"Yes, I was going to say that." He rubbed his chin. The admiral continued giving the 7th division captain instructions. In which Kamui trusted that Abuto will listen to and remember. He was too distracted; he will say later when Abuto blames him for not listening.

The meeting lasted for more than thirty minutes. Then they were dismissed, each with their own missions. Chiaki walked quietly behind the two. She wasn't crying anymore, but she was unresponsive.

"I can't _believe _you took the _fucking_ mission with the bitchy princess!" Abuto twitched in anger.

"What would you have me do then? We're running out of fund money and she's the only hope that I'd still get to eat good food in this god forsaken place." Kamui answered. He looked back, expecting some kind of dirty look or even a short retort from Chiaki, but she stayed stoic.

"You selfish _BLOCKHEAD!_" Abuto hit his forehead with his fake hand until it hurt. He knew he wasn't spiteful; he was much more decent than the rest of the pirates combined. But he absolutely disliked the woman. She wasn't evil. The princess never directly insulted him to a murderous extent, but the constant goading and ass kissing Kamui received from her irritated him. He was supposed to be the top underling dammit! She was loud too! Kamui seemed fine about it, maybe because he liked seeing Abuto suffer. Did Kamui like it when Abuto sweats profusely every time they land to home base? Conclusions ran through the Vice-captain's mind.

They entered a particularly large hallway that divided into two different paths. Chiaki stopped and tugged at Kamui's uniform coat.

"I'm going back to ship." She said, seeing as they were going into another direction. Chiaki was aware that it was dangerous, but she needed immediate alone time. She didn't know how long she could stand in the company of Kamui when she felt so betrayed by him.

"It's too dangerous to walk alone. And we still have business to attend to." He replied.

"Since when did you felt concern for trash?" She countered. "I still have to finish giving your men their salaries too!" Her face was reddening, she was scowling. When Kamui and Abuto froze, Chiaki took it as cue that she could leave. "I also need to freaking finish that apology letter you _failed_ to make for the Shinra!" She continued while walking.

"I have to go." She finished, tears threatening to leak from her eyes.

She left the two in a baffled state. Kamui sucked the edge of his cheek. He wore a somewhat tender expression that Abuto only saw on a rare occasion. Then everything snapped into place. Abuto started hitting his forehead with his other arm.

"Captain.." He complained. "You have bad taste in women."

For that comment, later, Abuto will find his precious brown teddy missing. Instead of his comforting toy, a severed rotting head would replace it in his bed side, or perhaps his futon in bathtub side. He would plop the head down the toilet and flush it down.

"Grab Yukiko and get her in the ship. She can use your room." Kamui walked back from where they came from.

"Ehhhh? What the hell! Why me!" Abuto sputtered in barely contained irritation. "Do it yourself!" He sent a convenient wall panel flying towards Kamui, which he dodged in infuriating ease.

"You're the Henchman here, remember?" Kamui reminded Abuto of his place. "And I have thinking to do." He said most to himself. Abuto could only hiss and curseat his Captain before he gave up and reluctantly went into the direction of where he knew the princess would be.

* * *

><p><em> "<em>_If you want to see a cloudless sky, when we visit Earth, I can always bring you to the clinic's rooftop. The roof is much more comfortable, though the stars don't look as plenty as you have here."_

"What game are you playing?" Kamui whispered to himself. He was on the eastern edge of the base, sitting on a ledge. He was confused. Chiaki was persistent, often acting like an idiot and was stubborn enough to rival Abuto. Women should know their place, _she_ as a captive should know her place. Yet she continued in her own little ways to defy him when she could get away with it. He had treated her like an ordinary hostage, and she continued to act like she was _fine_. He knew she wasn't. Her earlier reaction was a solid proof of that. Perhaps it was a Human thing. He didn't know.

He really enjoyed her company too.

She was weak and pathetic, but it was a refreshing difference from what he was used to.

Kamui threw a rusted piece of metal and watched it float aimlessly in space.

He didn't want her to leave yet.

_"__And it's not that I'm going to tell anyone. That's what friends do right?"_

There was a tugging sensation on his stomach.

_"__Guilty of pulling me down…. Because... Family isn't limited by blood."_

She was foolish, and yet he wanted to see where her sentiments will take her to.

_"__Captain, I believe this is goodbye then."_

Kamui paused mid throw at the eighth rusted piece of metal he was going to hurl into space. It was that time, when she irked him hard enough that he told her she was fired. When she tried to leave his side and never come back.

He concluded that she was now part of the Kamui and Abuto Take over the Harusame and Become King of the Pirates Group, or the KATHBKP. There would be another irritating consonant added, but it was alright.

She can_ never_ leave.

Kamui hurled the metal into space.

"Oi! You're ruining the ship!" Said a Harusame underling from behind; if exposed air pressure pipes, leakage of unknown fluids from broken metal walls and dangerously squirming cables filled with electricity were an indication of anything.

* * *

><p>"Hot bitch alert!" A shady looking pirate said from behind Chiaki, and no, she didn't feel like it was the wrong decision to part ways with her companions. She was having a heck of a good time getting lost. It cleared up her mind of delusions. Kamui and Abuto are the kindest gentlest pirates ever. Now that she had seen what the other pirates were made of, it made the two assholes seem like gods. She will probably bake a pink lace cake for Kamui when she gets back to the 7th divisions' area, providing that she will get back in the first place. She felt like she was lost for many hours now.<p>

"Where?" Chiaki responded in monotone. Her brown eyes were reduced to something darker that what is usually seen.

She looked behind her, face impassive. The pirate was obviously pointing at Chiaki.

_I may look super cool now, but I'm close to pissing myself._

"Oh? Behind me?" Chiaki looked ahead of her. "I guess you're hallucinating shady pirate-san. I suggest you lay of the drugs and start eating your vegetables." She offered. She talked too much every time she was in the verge of panicking. It was like the Thesis incident. Those panelists were really hard boiled.

"I'm referring to you!" The pirate felt a vein pop. It was seldom that he could see innocent looking girls walk around the ship. He wanted to try having a go at her.

"I can refer you to an eye specialist." She deadpanned.

"I DON'T NEED AN EYE SPECIALIST! I HAVE 20/20 VI-" The shady pirate's gutter mouth was covered by a beefy looking hand. Not a muscled hand, but more of a cow inspired hand. It was a half cow half human Amanto, complete with the number tag on the left ear. "Yoshiro! You fool!" The half cow man said. He slammed Yoshiro down the hard metal ground and kneeled down.

"Apologies, Ibara hime-sama" He hit his forehead multiple times on the hard steel.

Chiaki decided that she had enough of this bullshit and walked away immediately. She wanted to ask directions but every non-creepy pirate she saw was accompanied by ten more creepy pirates that eyed her like she was some prize fish at the market. At this rate, it will take her a really long time before she could ask directions.

"Wait!" The cow from before ran to her with his companion. Chiaki's eyes hardened.

He put his hoof down the pocket of his vest and made action to pull something.

The nurse immediately turned to a sharp corner. She will stand no chance if it was a gun. She ran faster, this time past many pirates whom she barely could dodge. _Damn it!_ She passed a familiar looking hallway and grinned. She had a slight idea where she was.

"Hime sama!" The cow urged from behind. He was getting close.

The nurse heaved and forced herself to run faster.

"It's useless!" The cowman's companion called out.

"No Yoshiro! I have to!"

Chiaki felt like her head was getting heavier and heavier as she ran forward. She had missed the sharp turn she was supposed to take. Now she was running straight to nowhere. The hallways were getting wider and wider, it was an unfamiliar route. She could feel her heart pound painfully. She needed to stop, her injuries might aggravate. Her vision was getting cloudy.

_Forward… forward.._

The hallway opened up to a large dome, she slowed down and picked a tunnel leading to her right, where her instinct told her to. She looked behind her and screamed when she saw that the cow man had come to a four legged run.

"Hime-sama! I just want your-!" She heard him choke at his last word.

"Hell no!" Chiaki screamed back, she hit a particularly large Amanto in the shoulder hard. She apologized and ran faster. Why was the base full of creeps? Her legs were weakening fast. Then she saw him. The bright orange hair with the seemingly unnoticeable black roots, the freaking braid and the aura, Kamui was standing, his back on her. He was conversing with a baffled shorter man with a clipboard, pointing at a damaged portion of the ship.

"CA-CAPTAIN!" She lurched forward. Her initial plan was supposed to slow herself to a complete stop via a gentle impact to Kamui. She knew it would be painful, but she couldn't run anymore. Slowing down would lead to the pirate to capture her and do whatever horrors he can.

Kamui dodged.

Chiaki's eyes widened as he grabbed the back of her lab gown to stop her. It was futile. Instead of stopping, she felt the gown get stripped of her body. She tumbled to the floor and rolled like a log a few times before coming to a permanent stop. She immediately picked herself up and sneered at everything.

Kamui raised a brow. Her lab gown on his hands, the technician he was talking to ran away. Kamui's eyes followed the Amanto. Who was holding a small notebook filled with blank pages. The 7th division captain unsheathed his umbrella and pointed it threateningly to the cow.

"K-Kamui-sama!" The cow bowed and slammed his forehead down the steel ground.

"What were you off doing, chasing the doctor like that?" He inquired diplomatically.

"I-I wanted Ibarahime-sama's autograph" He pushed the notebook forward.

"Ibara-hime? But there's no Ibara-hime here? Only your average pirate captain and his henchman." He crouched down. His antenna was twitching. This was really starting to piss him off.

The Amanto bowed harder, his forehead was creating a dent to the metal floor by now.

"Ibara-hime! The famous medic head of the seventh division! The one who has tamed and used the esteemed Abuto-sama, who singlehandedly defeated the army of bikini bombshells in planet blonde bombshells, as a mule! One of the best medics in Harusame, with her infinite knowledge and wisdom, the loyal follower Kamui-sama!."

Honestly, Kamui felt like puking, pirates again and their troublesome rumors, always with their tittle tattle, especially Abuto, The Queen Bee of Gossip. He felt his eye twitch.

Chiaki's eye twitched in sync. _She exhausted herself for nothing!_ She wanted to rip off the man's nose ring and hang it outside her clinic as a warning for those who did bullshit on a daily basis. _Stop it, Chiaki, you're a grown woman now, be mature and stop it! Stop trying to stare at your gross knee skid!_

She skidded her knee bad, she was wearing pants, but she could feel it sting.

"Right, sorry." She apologized to Kamui, who had his eyes hidden in his bangs for some particularly dark reason.

"Give it." She knew about the rumor problem, but she didn't know it would be _that_ bad.

She signed the notebook and looked at Kamui, who still was sulking in the corner.

_Uh oh…_

"Nose ring cow man-san, I think it would be best for everyone if you ask Kamui-sama for a signature too." She figured him out real quick. "But I'm unworthy to ask the great Kamui-sama!" He lowered himself on the floor. "I bet if you write down Kamui-sama, it will probably be in gold filled with rainbow stickers and glitter." She frowned.

"Just do it damn you!" She didn't know Kamui was the jealous type, but she could feel his resistance snapping even at her distance. Nobody asked him for his signature, it was always Abuto or the other losers that followed him like flies on shit. _They _and never _him_ the holier than thou Captain of the 7th division were asked for autographs.

The Amanto slid on his belly towards the direction of Kamui, eyes never leaving the floor, prostrate to the ground. "K-K-Ka-Kamui-sama….. I beg… If you would, your honor, can you bless me with your autograph as well." He pleaded. Kamui eyed him like some stain that had so insolently attached itself on his boot. He crouched down and snatched the notebook from the Amanto.

There were sounds of etching and Kamui threw the notebook at the man's head. He was okay now.

The Amanto opened it slowly and found a page that said, "Kamui-sama, your true King" written in blood and gore. The cow man felt like crying. Such beauty…

"THANK YOU VERY MUCH KAMUI-SAMA!" Cow man slammed his head on the ground extra hard.

Chiaki sweat dropped.

"You comin?" Kamui threw the lab coat at her. She caught it with two hands and stared at him.

She gulped.

"Captain…" She started, "is there a particular reason why you refused to go to Earth?" She immediately regretted asking him. The question had been plaguing her since she left. She heard her heart beat faster.

Kamui regarded her with cold blue eyes.

"None that concerns you. Now come on, I thought you said you need to finish paperwork." He said nonchalantly. He turned and slid his umbrella to its sheath. Chiaki sighted, she, she almost felt disappointed. His words hit her somewhere around the knees, she was hoping for _something._ She didn't know _what_ it was. Chiaki must have stood there for a while because Kamui glanced back with an identifiable look.

The nurse swallowed and sent him a stunningly uncomplicated grin. She walked to his side.

_You always have to smile, even when it's hard. _The doctor always reminded her.

Kamui sent back his own smile. The one he doesn't show when he's bidding his enemies goodbye.

_You always have to smile for Kagura-chan. _His mother said once.

The two walked away.

Cow man choked on his tears. "Ibara-hime sama!" He bellowed into the open space. His comrade ran to his side, finally catching up. "What's wrong?" His friend took note of his tears and the sparkles that went with it.

"There's something between Ibara-hime sama and Kamui-dono!" He shook his companion by the shoulder.

"They're together?" An unnamed passerby piped in.

"Really? They're together?" Another passerby said, upon hearing the first passerby.

"Who? Who is together?" A particularly older gentleman known as Abuto, popped his head in the groups who were murmuring among themselves. Abuto, was carrying an irritated long haired female who was gagged and bound. She was squirming, but it was no use. She was the princess.

"Kamui-dono and the doctor!" They said in sync.

Abuto felt vomit creep into his mouth.

"That's never gonna happen you fools!" he hollered and marched back to the ship. Deep inside, he grinned the grin of secretive assholes. _Heck yeah!_

* * *

><p>"Abuto-kun, wait a second." Chiaki called out from inside her clinic. She could hear him slamming his fist on her still broken door. How did he know that it was Abuto? Well, she and the vice-captain had an agreement that he needed to knock before entering. Or else he would find himself slowly running out of hemorrhoid cream. The other Yato, bastards as they were, kicked her door open. Not a hint of respect! It was a good deal, but she forgot to specify what <em>kind<em> of knocking he can do. Abuto, being the opportunistic fiend he was often made a scene every time it took longer for her to leave the clinic. There were times when he announced his presence with his atrocious singing voice; his other bastard methods were a bit unethical. She will not make it known.

"What is it?" The nurse pushed the door open and stared at a person who was not Abuto.

"Princess Yukiko." Chiaki said plainly. She was so not in the mood to deal with her shit right now.

Chiaki's nature was more of the "All people are irritating, I hate everything too, but! Because of me being born as me, I'm cooler than the rest. Thus I am more accepting and I love everyone" than the plain, "I hate the world, especially Japan, I simply want to _destroy!_" It was confusing, but it was what made her herself. The second nature shall be tackled later when fate decides that more humans, or terrorist groups will be joining the Harusame, but that's a story for another time.

The point of that paragraph was to say that she wasn't easily ready to suddenly _hate_ a person and deem them as archenemies. Hating was distracting to her studies, it gave wrinkles too.

The _real_ point of that paragraph was even if you were born with a suspicious face and acted like Abuto all the time, Chiaki wouldn't hate you.

Whether Kamui decided to leave the Harusame base because it was unsanitary and full of gossip immediately, of because he wanted to get rid of the Princess as fast as he could was unknown even to Chiaki.

It was their fourth day at space, and the fine line between hate and irritation was thinning out, _fast!_

Kamui and Abuto was nowhere in sight as well.

"Chiaki, I just had the most exhausting conversation with that rude vice-captain of yours." She whined.

The nurse had a distant thought of opening her own throat with one of the sharpest scalpels she owned.

"What did he do?" Chiaki asked.

"It's not what _he _did, dear, it's about everything! I don't have enough space! The food here is _disgusting_! How can you live in such a place-" Chiaki spaced out. She was so sure she saw Abuto walk from the corner, only to run away when he saw the Princess.

"It's not really that bad… the food can improve a little, but the ship isn't that horrible." She gave her opinion to the less than pleased princess. Chiaki wasn't finished tallying the new boxes of medicine she received. She was not in the mood either for talk. The gorgeous brunette pursed her lips to the sleepy nurse. "Maybe it's because you are used to my standards of living." The princess mused.

_Your standards can go to hell!_

"Yeah, okay." Chiaki said.

_You just implied that I suck do you!_

"Yeah okay? How can you say that?" The princess was high pitched. "_I_ was the one who gave funds on this stupid organization! Now they're treating me like this?" Chiaki would have felt sorry for the princess if it was the first time she heard her say the exact same words. The princess had repeated it over and over.

"You made a deal with _pirates! _Dear John! Pirates! Blood sucking, evil, illegal black hearted murderers and thieves! What did you expect!" Chiaki raised germ free hands for effect. "I know that deep inside, you knew what would happen!"

The princess took a step back.

"Now, the seventh division is taking you back _home_, for ransom, to sweet, sweet home! Stop complaining!" Chiaki peeved.

Yukiko stared at her with an annoyed expression then huffed. "By the way, have you seen Kamui-kun?" She asked narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the nurse.

"No." Chiaki said and slammed the door at her face.

The nurse walked to a messy corner and started sorting the pills in neat layers.

Minutes later her cabinet door flew from where it should be attached to the opposite corner of the room. Kamui, who was comfortably occupying the cabinet, stretched his legs. He was feeling rather nifty that morning. Maybe later he'd try to bug Abuto. He stretched again and lay down on his stomach. The cabinet was really comfy.

Chiaki was writing something on a record book.

He'd bug her too. He thought. Sometimes it was a pain to look for Abuto. He just has to settle for another one.

"Yukiko-hime was looking for you a while ago." _Be a lady, be a lady. The princess' gorgeousness already crushed what's left of your self-esteem. At least try to act like an actual female and not scream at everything._ She ignored the broken cabinet door that she had put so much effort on fixing. It was now in bifurcated _again. _"She told me if I had seen,_ Kamui-kun._"

Kamui visibly twitched. It sounded tacky.

"Also." Chiaki faced him. "Get out." She finished.

The Captain raised his brows. "Ho? Are you trying to order me around?" His legs were moving back and forth, amused by the entire situation.

"You've been hiding around my Cabinet for days now!" Her brows furrowed in irritation. "Can you give me some privacy?" She snapped. "Even Abuto-kun is not irritating to this extent."

"Abuto-kun? Since when did you and Abuto get so close?"

Chiaki paused. She watched him prop his chin on his arm, he gave her his signature shit eating grin.

It gave her the chills. She squinted.

"Stop being a fussy wuss. I just call him that because it irritates him. It sounds catchy too." She grinned at him. Kamui shielded his eyes.

"Now that all questions have been answered, shoo, Captain, I know you have lots of important Captain stuff to be doing right now. Like tap dancing in front of homeless cripples, experimenting 'premature ageing' on Abuto-kun or destroying every vestige of your subordinates' hopes and dreams… you know, the usual stuff."

"Did the 'it' creature say something? Because all I heard is blah blah blah"

She threw a box of tissues at him, which he dodged with ease.

Chiaki hissed.

"You're starting to become a little too cheeky." Kamui noticed. She was returning his insults more often than what he was used to. It felt nice.

"Watch out, the longer you let me live, the cheekier I'll get." _It's because I'm finally getting comfortable with you losers, at it only took me half a year._

"I guess I have to end you then." Kamui said, unsheathing his umbrella with pure killing intent.

Chiaki gasped and scrambled away like a spider.

"Just kidding." Kamui smiled, he plopped his weapon back.

"Damn you!" She said, but before he could say anything, she dimpled one cheek at him and laughed. She had a real adrenaline rush earlier, but now that it had subsided. She felt like an idiot. But she could never be too careful. Kamui smiled a little.

"Okay." She gathered several documents in her arms. "See you later, don't blow things up and try not to cause life threatening injuries to your fellow homies." Chiaki pocketed a scalpel among things and pushed her creaky rusty door open. She stepped outside and stopped. "Wait, on second thought." She poked her head in the clinic; chocolate brown eyes met bright blue ones.

"Don't hit or kill anyone today and I promise to join you and Abuto later in your Cards against Humanity game, we can play past my bedtime." She shut the door and left.

Kamui sat on his makeshift bed, his stomach doing backflips. His cheeks were somehow forcing him to smile like an idiot.

_"__I think I have a weird case of diarrhea, must be the pink lace cake I found at my bedroom yesterday."_

* * *

><p>Thank you for reading! :)<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

AN: I apologize for the late update. I've been thoroughly busy with school stuff. I'm failing because I can't do volleyball! Noooooo! ;( But I found myself some time and forced 30 minutes of my daily schedule to write Fanfiction. This Chapter is supposedly plot filled and all important. But my brain juice is pumped dry. So I made a special instead, with a twist. Merry Christmas to you peeps. (Even if it's late) I love you all.

P.S. Anyone read the latest update? *man tears*

I do not own Gintama.

* * *

><p>Chapter 10<p>

_"__I still don't understand why you insist on studying nursing when you can become a surgeon, or a physician like me and your mom!" Chiaki's father hollered, face red from anger_

_"__Father." Chiaki held the man's shoulders, eyes blazing with a fresh kind of determination. _

_"__I want to be a pirate."_

_"__HELL NOO!" The father stomped childishly. "Haven't you learned from our neighbor Kamui!" He leaned in to whisper to Chiaki's ear. "He's a bad seed." Chiaki blinked. _

_"__I'm right behind you." Kamui said from behind the father._

_Abuto, being the father raised a sophisticated eyebrow that utterly looked down at all eyebrows at his vicinity at the moment. He regarded Kamui as the dirt that had so insolently landed on his polished boot. "And I care wh-"_

_Whatever nasty retort Abuto, the father, was about to say was cut off by a mass of frills, sequins and overly dyed hair that would make anyone dive for the 14__th__ century and stay there, forever. "Abutooo~ Don't be so rude to our neighbor…" The mother, Aiko, made a pose. "Hmm, you know Chiaki and Kamui are…" The tanned bulk of muscles and neon hair raised his pinky finger and started making kissy sounds with his glossy lips._

Kamui shot out of his bed, his spine stick straight, hair in a sticky mess and eyes bloodshot from horror. He made a noise of disgust and turned to roll himself off the bed. He froze. The Captain of the seventh division peered quizzically at the spot between his legs and made a noise of utter terror. Before the appearance of his lieutenant the dream had been _slightly_ intimate with a certain human.

He needed a cold shower.

The Captain always started his day with a large bowl of rice, fish and a glass of milk if he really felt like it. These past few weeks he had been starting a few of his mornings with a tank worth of a splash of cold water. Today was one of those days.

In the Harusame the most of the high ranking pirates had taken a liking on fancy interior decorating that cost them loads of money. His room was the average room of his race, a bed, a table, an umbrella rack, the latest Wii, a clean bathroom and the much needed pile of rotting corpses on the middle of a fancy carpet, stinking up the room. Kamui edged around it carefully. He made a note to ask someone to clean the place.

He took a bath and rubbed his chin in front of a large mirror. Not yet, he thought. All of his clan had obstructing facial hair growing out of their faces at fifteen years of age, heck he was so sure Abuto had them at ten. He threw his daily supply of razors down a suspiciously red stained trash can.

Kamui dried his dyed hair and braided it with one hand; the other was rummaging through a drawer searching for a piece of elastic. There were a number of pictures on that drawer as well. The top layer consisted of a yellowed down photograph of his mother and father sitting on a bench by a river –with the baldy's face carved out-, a small high quality print of Hosen flexing his muscles, Kamui's younger self with his first dog, Abuto's baby pictures and Chiaki's school ID –snapped in half-. He crumpled and tossed Hosen's photo on the trash can, he missed.

Kamui, too lazy pick up his trash, tied his hair and headed out for breakfast.

**Harusame Kitchen:**

Abuto scratched his hairy chin and stared at the women in front of him.

"You see, Rosalind Franklin did most of the hard work while these two just copied and published stuff about the DNA! Do you have any idea how hard she worked!" Chiaki flipped the large textbook that has been taking most of the space in her table. Her glass of milk has long gone cold. She turned her head to face the princess and narrowed her eyes in mild irritation. "Are you listening?" She snapped her fingers twice.

The princess woke from her stupor and gave the nurse a sheepish look. "Sorry." She said with a pretty grin.

Chiaki was not amused. She gathered the books on her table and shoved it to Yukiko's skinny arms. "You're not going to pass your college entrance exams if you keep on zoning out every time I try to help." She crossed her arms and challenged the princess to speak.

"Bu-"

"You know you only have a week or so, do you want your whole kingdom to know that you failed pathetically." She cut Yukiko off.

"W-"

"GO STUDY DAMN IT!" Chiaki yelled.

"I don't know why you even bother! I'm not going home!" The books fell down the floor with a cringe worth thud. Chiaki felt the urge to throttle the princess right there.

"Then what are you going to do with your life?" She looked at the princess warily and bent down and collected the resource materials. Yukiko from her position felt a little guilty. Abuto shot the royal a glare. With a sigh, the princess kneeled and arranged the papers. Yukiko had quit complaining about everything after the nurse herself charged to her room one night –Abuto's room, now he's been sleeping on Chiaki's comfort room– and asked her to shut her trap or half the crew would have their way with her and murder her. Her wails had been keeping the ship awake at night. The princess had stopped since then. She once mentioned something about a college entrance exam and Chiaki had been tutoring her nonstop.

"With my life.." Yukiko set the last book down a pile and said. "I want to marry Kamui."

"A fat lot of good will that do." Chiaki threw the books at the Princess once more. She heard a distant sound of utter disgust from Abuto. "I think the Captain is asexual, he's never seemed to be the kind that can be tied down." The vice-captain downed Chiaki's glass of milk.

"You're better of marrying prince Hata from the NatGeo channel." The nurse gave a comment.

"That purple thing with the weird voice?" Yukiko stared at Chiaki.

"Hey, rumors have it that he actually speaks in a manly voice when he pleases." Abuto contemplated.

The royal gave the both of them a look and huffed. "I'm going back to my room." She said. The vice-captain felt peeved, he missed his comfy bed. Cold tiles weren't exactly the most comfortable bedding, even for someone as manly and rugged as him. "Quiz, later at 3, study about the concepts of regression and correlation. You have several hours to study." Chiaki said to the princess. Yukiko could do nothing but stomp childishly and leave.

The human inspected her empty glass. She gave Abuto a nasty look. Abuto feigned innocence, as if the milk on his facial hair proved nothing but his person being free from any crime.

"I don't know why you bother." Abuto repeated.

Chiaki's frosty look melted into something the vice-captain was much used to. She knitted her brows in irritation and decided that silence was a better answer. She was jealous of Yukiko who had everything. Maybe helping her was a subtle way for Chiaki to feel better about herself. The princess was going home. Something the nurse was supposed to head to if the Captain hadn't refused. She gave him the outward façade that she was alright. It was evident that Kamui knew what really kept her awake at nights.

Abuto cleared his throat. The nurse seemed content on staring into nothing. He wanted to prod her into answering his queries.

"Marrying the Captain isn't _that_ bad you know." The blonde gave her a wink. "I can always plan a surprise wedding." He wriggled his eyebrows in a teasing manner.

She gave him a look of surprise which in no time morphed into displeasure. Chiaki gave him an approving smile.

"Can I decide which of the both of you is going to wear the dress?" She shot him a grin and dashed on the nearest exit. She slammed gut first into Kamui's umbrella and doubled over in pain.

"Good morning to you also" Kamui smiled and gently rolled her off his way with his foot.

"No wonder the ladies throw themselves at you." Abuto rolled his eyes.

"Man down, man down!" The nurse gasped from the floor, but nobody paid attention. She laid her stomach flat on the cold ground, finding the chill soothing her pain

She heard the familiar noise of average men eating breakfast, with subtle hints of bloodshed and homicidal tendencies, but all was well. Chiaki, too lazy, and disabled at that moment, to care began crawling her way out of the kitchen before anything drastic happened. She needed to do laundry and maybe pay a visit to Aiko when she's done. She wasn't too keen on spending her time in the _lovely_ company of the both of them.

"Your men are beginning to be anxious Captain.." Abuto whispered on his seat. She heard a bit of shuffling then more chewing sounds. Chiaki crawled harder. Kamui made sounds of agreement before he regarded Abuto cooly with intelligent eyes.

"… Why are they anxious?" Kamui knew nothing.

"IT'S TWO DAYS BEFORE THE BIRTH DATE OF HUNTA CLAUS AND YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING YET!" Abuto slammed a meaty fist down the table. A bowl of cereal flew and narrowly missed Chiaki's head.

"Oh, that." Kamui folded his arms. "You can do your national holiday stuff as you please, I've never celebrated before, and I'm not going to start now." He poured himself another bowl of cereal. Abuto narrowed his eyes. "You never?" He asked mostly to himself.

"Since when did my life morph into a Christmas movie…" Chiaki muttered to herself and gingerly avoided the cereal bits on the floor. She crushed one too many and stood up. "Who's this Hunta Claus?" She asked curiously to Abuto.

"You don't know?" Abuto said with the ill-conceived glee of enthusiasts. The Captain cursed under his breath and moved his cereal to the furthest table from Abuto. Kamui had heard the story over and over again from his right hand man. He respected Hunta Claus, but the gifts he received from the slim dark bearded blood soaked gift giving devotee were always a 4 piece candle holder set made from cheap plastic, every single year. Every year our favorite Captain went near the turbines and hung his Hunta socks. Every year he would feel nothing but jealousy as others got cool shit while he had candle holders.

"They said that Hunta Claus would drop by every December to shower Yato, who was good that year, by good I mean killed off at least a thriving civilization and razed villages to the ground, with gifts." Abuto sighted contently. "The more blood you spill, the better the gifts."

"You know that's a total rip off from Earth's Santa Claus." Chiaki commented.

Abuto gave her a look. "Or maybe your Earth copied it from our clan." He said in a tone that convinced himself. "Aren't you supposed to celebrate December with Jesusmas?"

"Christmas." Chiaki corrected the older man. "It's mostly a commercialized holiday, but it's passed by now." She took a glance at the ship's calendar. "I always get socks though, so I'm not really feeling like I'm missing anything." She said and scrubbed bits of cereal from her coat. "You do your festive crap, I still need to soak the Captain's bloody uniform…. And wash his underwear." Chiaki squinted at Kamui who innocently cocked his head in her direction.

"No, you're coming with me. You can burn his clothes later, I need every help I can get."

Chiaki made a noncommittal hum and slumped on the table.

"You're going to help too Captain." Abuto grinned at his superior.

The cereal munching superior raised a brow. Vice-captain Abuto smiled in success; Kamui didn't refuse, that was progress. Chiaki shifted, blinked then gave out a hiss. Abuto of all people should know that she was still feeling a bit peeved of her Captain. She had fun and played cards with him, but she would rather cool down for another few days before having to see her work hand in hand with the pirate.

* * *

><p>"No, no, no…" Aiko made a pose. His pink hair had been styled neatly to match the festive atmosphere around him. Lower ranking crew scuttled past him in a hurry, each determined to play a part in their national holiday. It was the season where all blood thirsty murderous clan members would lock their arms together and drink past bedtime. Not that they did that every day, there was something special about the birth date of Hunta-san that put smiles on the scarred faces of the clan members.<p>

"The pile of skulls should be placed nearer to the jar of kidneys! Not the mutilated limbs!" He gave an overly dramatic point on a corner then twirled to a stoic faced Chiaki. "Smile dear, there's no reason to look _that_ grim." He placed his gloved hands on her cheeks and forced a smile. The nurse slapped the man's hands away.

"I thought your Hunta Claus stuff is Christmasy…. Not… Not this!" Chiaki gestured to the decorative mound of spider webs and the convincing corpses that lined the once neat hallways. There was an eerie tree at the corner made entirely of eyeballs of different colors. She had been used to darker themed decorations every Halloween, but this was an entirely different level. The clan didn't believe in half assed efforts and was in a no bullshit sense up to the last red eyed hovering reaper that seemed to lurk in every unsuspecting corner.

"What's Christmasy?" Aiko gave her a box of fake vermin. The nurse scoffed, as if there weren't enough live rats that chew on her shoes at night.

"It's a human thing." She responded and handed the box to a passerby.

There was a flurry of movement and she found herself perched in the familiar back of the vice-captain. "Is that you?" Chiaki peered. Abuto was garbed in a tattered black cloak; his face was covered by a rather disturbing devil mask. "What's with the evil look, not that you weren't evil enough in the first place." She clutched his hair for support.

"It's tradition!" Abuto said with a muffled voice. He teetered around a group of beefy men who were on their knees, chanting and bowing down to a burning skeleton. Chiaki made an incredulous sound and buried her face on her palms.

"If that displeases you, you should see the gift giving ceremony." Kamui said from the side.

_So, you don't decorate pine trees with last minute cut-price decorations, but you give away gifts?_ A voice inside the nurse uttered in a complete mix of emotions that can only be expressed with the image of a lumberjack Abuto splitting mahogany with his bare arms. The Captain was wearing similar attire to his subordinate, minus the devil mask. Instead, there was a ridiculous witch hat atop his head.

"Here." Kamui handed the nurse a small box filled to the brim with dust coated bundles of leaves with white round berries attached to it. She inspected a bundle with curiosity. "Tape them on the ceiling as you go."

"Is this mistletoe?" Chiaki sniffed the fake plant then rubbed her nose in irritation. She noticed that the vice-captain brightened up at the mention of the plant's name. "But I thought you didn't have women in the ship." She tore tape with her teeth and secured a stem firmly on the ceiling.

"That makes it even better." Kamui remarked.

She froze and gave the Captain a look of uncertainty. "You have a thing for men?" She whispered. No wonder Kamui kept the sausage manberry combo of a key chain, Chiaki thought in dismay. It was a shame. The discreet glimmer of hope in her burned out with a gust of cold winter air. He stopped and pulled her by the collar, forcing her to bend to his level. Abuto yelped in protest, she had unintentionally elbowed his neck. The vice-captain held her ankles securely, preventing the nurse from unceremoniously falling off his back.

"Care to repeat that?" Kamui gave her a grin reserved for those special people whose lives are limited by the second.

Chiaki pulled her torso back, but his grip was too tight. "I humbly inquired if you, by chance, which wasn't suggested by you preferring men kissing under the mistletoe, but by my own curiosity, actually prefer seeing men kissing under the mistletoe, which may or may not influence my life's choices in the near future, if I live that long." She uttered. Abuto let go of her ankles and she fell on the floor. She scuffed her arm.

"Where the hell did that idea come from?" Abuto said in disgust.

"Uhh… we hang these stuff back at home so when desperate people come 'accidentally' standing under it, they kiss." She explained.

Kamui tensed in disgust and Abuto let out a loud laugh.

"Don't be presumptuous. We hang these branches so that when two people stand under it, they can beat each other to death without having to face consequences like crying family members or revenge of the later dead man's friends. It's all for good sport." Kamui explained.

Chiaki was felt ridiculous. Abuto picked her up and shoved the box in her arms. She made a note to double check the ceiling before she walked around later.

* * *

><p>"So…. So?" Yukiko gave Chiaki a broad grin. The nurse squinted and shielded her eyes from its blinding purity. "Sorry, I'm starting to pick up habits from those fools back outside." She could still hear their hurried footsteps as they prepared for a feast she doesn't plan to join at that evening. Chiaki turned her head back to the paper and checked the last three items.<p>

"You did well, but you forgot to read the purine and pyrimidine parts of the book didn't you?" She said and smiled.

Princess Yukiko pursed her lips. "You only told me to study Statistics!" She explained.

"Asshole examiners do that all the time, I'm not saying I'm a butthole examiner, but you should know by now that they lie, every single one of them." Chiaki said as if sharing a secret.

"I suggest you don't go out much in these two days, the crew is celebrating their Huntmas, you might accidentally step under a branch of death and get beaten to death."

"…" The princess slumped on the bed. "Is that why you're dressed like that?" She questioned the nurse.

Chiaki was hidden in layers and layers of black cloth. "I decided to be a hobo this year." She shrugged, everybody was doing it. "I'll ask someone to give you dinner tonight, stay put." Chiaki smiled and handed her another shiver worthy tome. "It's a book for grammar structure. I'm not that well versed in language so I don't think giving you an exam for that is fair."

Yukiko squealed in delight.

"But Abuto-san always liked saying stuff like, 'don't be a stiff, it's just a quiz' so maybe I'll ask him if he has the time." She mused.

Yukiko gave a wry smile and put down the tome.

"I don't understand." She said. "I know from the first glance that you're human, you don't belong in this ship. Is Kamui-kun threatening you to work for him? Are you a prisoner too?" The princess asked.

_The only prison I am in is in his heart._

Chiaki hit her head on the table multiple times before convincing her brain that it was the lack of sleep.

"I'm not loyal to the douche. I'm slightly a prisoner…?" She frowned. "Does that make any sense to you?" She asked.

Yukiko shook her head.

"It's self-preservation." She said finally after a few minutes, but she knew that the princess was not convinced. It was the most she could say. "You'll know when you're older." The nurse stood up and went to the door. Yukiko rubbed her pretty face in frustration. "I'm 24 years old!" She yelled to Chiaki. All the nurse could do was gape and walk to the door.

* * *

><p>The room gasped in utter horror when Chiaki entered.<p>

She stood there looking all confused and shit.

"Is there something wrong with my face?" She asked, clutching the basket of laundry nearer to her chest. There were hushed murmurs and sharp eyes pointing to her direction. Behind the crowd, a taller prominent pink haired okama rushed his way to the nurse, not missing the opportunity to stab an unsuspecting victim or two on his way. He hurriedly spun the nurse around and hid her behind his bulky frame.

"What are you doing?" He cried on a hushed voice.

"I'm passing by to do my laundry!" Chiaki muttered back, confused of the sudden cold reception.

"No that!" Aiko snatched her red pointy Santa Claus hat she was wearing and stuffed it roughly in the nurse's laundry basket. "Do you realize what kind of trouble you have put yourself into?" He pushed Chiaki out of the room.

"Wearing that hat signifies that you are ready to sacrifice yourself for Hunta Claus." Abuto said from behind the both. He can see that Chiaki is wearing a beggar inspired costume –he approves. Nothing like looking like crap every Huntmas, he briefly pondered how was she able to make her dirty hair look so convincing. Chiaki gaped ugly then thrust the hat to the vice-captain. "I was wearing it to keep it warm, for you."

Abuto's eyebrows shot back. Then he gave her a genuine smile.

Abuto threw the hat in space later, when nobody was looking at him.

"Excuse me.." She twisted her way off them and reentered the room.

The dining hall was unrecognizable. Its walls were painted in a darker color, there were boughs of dead trees with skeletons beneath, actual live vermin scurrying at her feet, suspiciously convincing corpses under the tables and the screaming Yato hurling their bodies to one another after a faithful meeting under the mistletoe. Their fights seemed bloody and a hell lot of serious. She wondered if she should actually do her job for once and tend to the injured crew, but they seemed content on drowning themselves with liquor after a bloody match.

Chiaki saw a flash of bright orange from the far end of the hall and sighted. She could never avoid him, all she could do was to tolerate.

She passed to the side of a towering man and found herself yanked off her feet by the back of her shirt. She let out a surprised yelp and avoided glaring daggers at him.

He was large and one armed, half of his head was shaven bald, the other half was in a neat braid that stopped above his elbows. There were stylish tattoos decorating his head up to his remaining arm which was huge with muscles. He was also holding a sharp axe that glinted dangerously in the artificial light.

The man gave her a wide grin and pointed at the mistletoe above them.

Her blood froze solid. She was careful, but it was not enough.

"Do you need a weapon?" The man smiled and swung his axe.

"I-I don't fight!" She dropped her basket and raised her arms in surrender. "I can't fight!" She continued. She could hear her pulse quicken. Several passing clan members stopped to watch the commotion.

The man grunted in disapproval. "You can't say no!" He didn't scream, but she flinched anyways. He elbowed her a little and whispered.

"I'm not going to kill you, I'm just going to roughen you up a bit… but you have to put on a fight." His voice was coarse. Chiaki felt tears sting her eyes, but she nodded. It was their tradition, and judging by the sad group at the corner of the canteen –consisting of beaten up pilots, janitors and navigators- nobody was exempted from the rule. "I'll play fair." He reassured her, but the curious Yato and the unwillingness of the vice-captain and Aiko to help terrified her. She grinned in mock bravado.

"I'll also play fair then." Chiaki removed her lab gown and carefully inserted her left arm back into her oversized shirt. She knew she was going to get killed anyways. No amount of human skill could change that, she could at least do something cool first. The man furrowed his brows.

"Fairness…" She said. He laughed and she flinched at how loud it echoed in the now silent room. There was movement and she saw the Captain emerge to inspect the situation. There was a strange glint in his eyes that made her feel like she was being carefully watched. There was a ghost of a smile in his features, she ignored his face and swallowed.

The large man was smiling widely, he gestured to one of his companions and she acquired herself an axe that would be most useful is she could actually carry it with one hand like he did.

"One… two." he counted. "Three!" He charged and aimed to slam the dull edge of his weapon on her shoulder. Chiaki screamed out of instinct and dived out of the way, if she hadn't hidden her left arm, it would have been fractured. The crowd yelled in unison. Her foe's weapon imbedded itself on the steel ground. He wasted no time pulling it out. The nurse ran behind him and in a second, the handle of his weapon made contact with her stomach. She crashed through a group of Yato and they tumbled around like skittles, umbrellas scattered everywhere.

Chiaki always thought her resistance to pain was sky high. She clutched her abdomen and sniffed.

He gave her an apologetic smile and moved to kick her unconscious –it was the only way to finish a duel.

She was right.

She slapped his foot away and lashed out. Her only usable arm grabbed an umbrella. She pointed it at him and pulled its trigger.

_Click_

All was silent.

_Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click_

"What are you doing?" The man asked. Chiaki took out her other arm from her shirt and opened the bullet case. It was empty. "I was right." She said morose voice. "The gun in the parasol isn't loaded…" She threw the umbrella down.

"I wasn't trying to_ murder_ you for real out of complete fear and need to live. I just needed to reassure myself that I am skilled enough to know the weight difference of a loaded and an unloaded umbrella."

He punched her lights out.

When she woke up, Kamui's face was too close for comfort. "Hey." She said, but she winced from the sound of her voice. She was still in the exact same spot where the Yato knocked her unconscious. She could see the mistletoe hanging bitterly from the ceiling. Nearer to her face was an uncapped permanent marker, she swatted the marker off the Captain hands and tried to get up. Her head spun in effort and she conceded defeat.

"Whatever smug remark you have for me, you can keep it for yourself." She shut her eyes and let the darkness flood in.

Kamui's foot made its way on the small of her back, and then with a sharp lift successfully forced the nurse to her feet. She yelled as her vision whirled into a mix of dark colors. Chiaki blinked several times before she could make sense of what she was seeing. She glared at the Captain who cocked his head innocently to the side. The strange glint in his eyes was replaced by mirth.

"Yes, yes, weak and pathetic I know." She muttered and searched for the laundry basket. It was missing.

The Captain frowned.

She stared past him with a confuzzled look.

"Light years measure time, not distance." She squinted.

"I think you gave her brain damage!" Abuto said to his newly acquired friend from afar. Kamui was unamused; he reached a pitcher of ice cold water and poured it all over the nurse. Minutes later, he found her punching his chest, it didn't feel like much.

"I dislike your traditions!" She gave him a rather strong punch that didn't faze him one bit.

"I need to show you something." Kamui said then gestured her to follow him with two fingers. Chiaki squeezed her hair dry and remained on the spot where she was. Her stomach ached like a dislocated limb and she worried about her mild concussion. When he noticed that she didn't follow he threatened her with a cut throat grin and she obliged.

They left the eerily decorated canteen and slowly walked towards the lower parts of the ship.

"Where are we going?" Chiaki asked then clapped three times. He gave her a questioning look and she groaned internally, nobody understood her references.

"Since when did you think I regard you of little value?" Kamui asked quietly. They passed a serious looking door that needed a bunch of card and password insert to enter.

There were less people in the lower part of the ship. The crew that passed him saluted respectfully and went on with their work. They looked much more serious than the men on the top floors. She could hear the distant hum of the engines.

"What do you mean?" She wasn't sure how to answer him. _It's not that you break promises on a quarterly basis, or treat everyone like crap… Maybe that's how you … show your affections?_

"I was going to congratulate you for executing that little act without screaming like a little girl the entire time." He said petulantly. "I didn't have a 'smug remark'"

Chiaki stopped, looking a little peeved than usual.

"How am I supposed to know?" She said softly. "You're always going on and on about how pathetic I am compared you your race."

He scoffed.

"But it's true isn't it?" Kamui took a hold of her sleeve and swerved her out a mistletoe range.

"Yes, but it is unneeded." She sniffed and avoided another blasted plant on the ceiling. "We don't tell Abuto his armpit smells bad, because we pretend not to notice, we all know he spends half of his salary for deodorant that doesn't work on his potent stench because we know he can't change it, and he tries." She paused and slapped herself for giving a bad example.

"All of you know that I'm pretty much the weakest member of your crew. No training can change that. I'm not asking anyone to pretend that I'm strong. But it would help if you of all people would tone down the insults." Chiaki clutched Kamui's sleeve. He tensed at the contact, but she simply moved him to an angle so he'd avoid the giant man who was standing under a plant of death. He gave her a look, stepped in the mistletoe range and happily beat the man to a state of half death. She was gaping the entire time. Chiaki inspected the injured man, but he seemed pleased at himself and shooed her away with a string of colorful words.

Kamui stepped on another bloody man on the floor. He yelled from the pain and slipped into unconsciousness. The nurse felt like crying. She wanted to go back, but the grip on her elbow prevented her from doing so.

"Me of all people? You put value on my words?" He asked.

"Hell yes!" Chiaki announced as if it was obvious from the start.

"Then if I say that you're not weak and I don't think you're exactly a piece of yesterday's garbage. You will believe me?"

Chiaki stopped walking again. Her heart leaped. She tried to force down a smile that seemed to be too persistent from her liking. It was then that it was evident how cool and good looking her Captain seemed to be compared to her previous high school crushes that look like plebeians compared to –oh god are those dimples?

Kamui felt his chest constrict a little. Like how he ran too fast, too excited to stab someone with the pointy end of his umbrella. It was a pleasant feeling.

"I've never seen anyone live this long in my ship with your level of strength." He added as an explanation.

"All because you didn't think it would be fun to murder me in my sleep." She smiled.

"Oh no, I don't like killing women."

"Ho? Are you developing values now?"

"You're pushing my patience."

"I'm sorry."

But both of them were grinning, one looking a little red on the face.

"Women may have strong children to fight in the future." He said as he entered a dimly lighted dome like room that blew warm air. Chiaki hummed in relief as the heat warmed her icy fingers. She was bracing herself for the illness that would follow. Kamui shuffled on a darker corner then switched on the lights. The foreign machines and the clutter of the room indicated that they were in an engine room of some sorts. There was a giant fan like contraption in the furthest corner of the room, where Kamui and Chiaki was walking near to.

Beside the fan, there were about forty to fifty black socks messily taped on the wall. Each of them had names in various handwritings in torn paper glued to the socks.

"This place stinks." Chiaki covered her nose with her sleeve. Some socks had mold growing from its corners. There was a pink stocking that she guessed belonged to Aiko.

Kamui handed her a roll of tape and watched her expectantly.

"I'm wearing slippers." She wriggled her exposed toes. Her only socks were in the laundry basket, which was still missing. Kamui stared at her in disbelief. He bent down, pulled off his boot and offered his other sock.

"I can't" She refused. He snatched the tape from her arms and secured the rather clean sock on the wall. She breathed out from her nose and tore a piece of unused packaging paper from one of the machines and scribbled her name in it. She inserted the paper in the sock.

"Wait for tomorrow, Hunta Claus might give you something…" He gathered a bunch of her coat and dragged her out.

* * *

><p>"You the Captain's whore?" Nobuo said from behind Chiaki. She pretended not to notice and walked straight ahead. Just a few feet ahead of her and she'll be in the safety of her own clinic. She held her breath.<p>

"Don't pretend to not hear me!" He snarled.

She turned around stiffly. The now clean laundry basket secured on her arm. She almost didn't recognize the drunk. For one, he wasn't drunk at all. His dark hair was slicked back as before, but it was longer, his face was clean but the condescending smile was there. She could feel the bruise on her chin, from the knockout punch earlier, throb in a dull pain.

"No I'm not the Captain's whore." She replied with as much care as she could.

The man offered a twisted smile. "No, you're not."

"But you look a bit like one if you keep your hair that." He jeered then snatched the basket from her arms.

The nurse panicked and took a step back.

"Where's your hovel?" He asked.

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Where is it?" He repeated, much irritable this time.

Chiaki pointed at a hole in the wall barely covered by a slab of metal. "That's the clinic."

He clicked his tongue and slid the basket on the floor. It spun and entered the clinic.

"…. Thanks?" Chiaki said in confusion.

"Stop looking like a whore. It ruins the Captain's image." He spat on the ground again. Nobuo grunted and rubbed the dollop of saliva on the carpet with his boot until it was unnoticeable.

* * *

><p>"Do I look a whore?" Chiaki asked Aiko, who was busy arranging cookie skulls on the dining table. He stopped and scrutinized her face, twisting her head into angles.<p>

"Yes, you look a bit like a whore." A girly titter and a cookie was forcibly shoved on Chiaki's mouth. She choked and partly spat the pastry. The nurse continuously slammed a fist on her chest to dislodge a stubborn piece off her throat. Within seconds, a particularly nasty looking rat bravely dodged a stampede of boots and claimed the saliva coated cookie with as much joy as can be seen on Abuto's face when he captures a rare Pokémon without using an expensive ball.

The nurse sulked.

"Here. Stop frowning, it'll give you all sorts of troublesome wrinkles." He shot a gloved hand out and snipped off her pink hair with a huge scissor that was conveniently placed beside him. Chiaki screamed in surprise and was skilled enough to dodge another snip.

"Hmmm…" Aiko rubbed his muscular chin. "You look better now."

She whacked the scissor off his hand and ran off.

"Where are you going?" Aiko said from afar. "The party is about to start!" He yelled.

"I'm not going!" Chiaki answered. She felt a hand grab her coat and she immediately removed it from her person. She was not going to be manhandled by some beefed up Yato. "Everyone has to come." Abuto threw the coat on her stomach. She doubled over in pain. "No." She winced as she tried to stand straight.

"You're speaking as if you have a choice in the matter."

"I do have a choice." She protested. "I'm going your party next year. I have more important things to finish first." She said. Abuto let out a weary sigh.

"Okay, what the hell is it?" He scratched his dirty hair.

There was a sudden bright flash that fried his retinas. He yelled in surprise and accidentally elbowed the nurse on her face. He apologized sheepishly.

"Now I'm really not coming. See you tomorrow." She walked to Aiko to collect something before leaving.

* * *

><p>"Good morning Captain!" Abuto slapped Kamui in the back. Abuto stank of alcohol, there were bags under his eyes, but he was smiling like a fool. The Captain who spent a sleepless night kicked his subordinate right in the jewels.<p>

Abuto tumbled and crashed face first to the ground.

He chuckled on the floor and inspected the perfectly fitted glove on his prosthetic hand. No wonder the nurse was very intent on measuring his hand. He felt proud, but his groin hurt so he felt sorry for himself as well.

"Good morning… Taichou~~~" Aiko blew a gay kiss in which Kamui dodged. He kicked the okama in the face. In a normal circumstance, the overgrown man would have allowed full access of his face to the cleated boot of his Captain. This time he deviated out of harm's reach and smiled coyly.

"A-ah~ Not this time my handsome Captain." He tapped his new shades with this pointer finger and made a pose. "It looks good doesn't it? Emphasizes my lips." He hummed at tune. "That nurse has good taste."

Kamui shuddered in disgust but kept his smile.

The Captain made his way to the lower bowels of the ship, where the splatters of dried blood reminded him of yesterday's events. He was disappointed that the nurse didn't attend their Huntmas party. When he asked his lieutenant, the okama informed him that she used the evening to treat the little shits that got themselves injured. He frowned on the inside.

The sock decorated walls cleared out save for one black sock with his name on it. He ripped the sock from its place on the wall and opened it. There was something… different this year. He threw the neon green and orange candle holders on the floor and pulled out a folded plastic sealed envelope from the sock.

There was a picture inside the envelope.

It was from the day before, taken by his lieutenant. His protruding arm indicated that he took the photo. His body was facing away from the camera, with his butt in a prominent angle. Not far from him was Chiaki, smiling widely with peace signs in both of her hands. Her fluffy pink hair was disheveled, her smile wasn't symmetrical, but it was beautiful. Beside the nurse was Abuto, who was squinting and flailing wildly, his face in an awkward pinch that made his lips look larger than it was. He was blinded by the camera's flash.

Kamui's face was unreadable.

He flipped the picture over and found girly handwriting on blue ink. It was smudged on the edges but it was readable.

"Merry Christ Huntmas, Captain! Never forget!" –Chiaki

* * *

><p>Thank you for spending time to read this~ I will start writing the next chapter tomorrow. Volleyball can go screw itself, my arms are all freckled with bruises already. *smiley face*<p> 


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